HYANNIS – Governor Charlie Baker said that 2 million state residents could be vaccinated by the end of the week.
Baker made the announcement during a recent presentation at Family Health Center of Worcester.
The number of total doses administered in the Commonwealth is over 4,650,000, with about 1.7 million residents fully vaccinated, according to recent data from Johns Hopkins University.
By these figures, about 23 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
“We have the infrastructure to administer a lot more vaccines than we’ve actually got. But unfortunately we’ve been told by the federal government that shipments, especially with respect to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, will be much lower this week after we received the one-time increase last week,” said Baker.
“We continue to hope that the federal government increases with regard to vaccine supply, generally and especially with respect to J&J, get resolved.”
Despite the strides in vaccination rates, Baker stressed the importance of continued testing infrastructure alongside vaccination in order to mitigate the spread of the virus.
The comment comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported over 100 cases of the P.1 COVID variant in the state.
“It helps us and helps you—the public and individuals—identify cases, work on isolation, find ways to support people as they deal with COVID in their own particular circumstances and trace positive cases so that we can continue to slow the spread,” said Baker.
On April 19, all residents of Massachusetts 16 and older will become eligible to make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment.
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