Gov. Charlie Baker
HYANNIS – Governor Charlie Baker has announced that K-12 educators, childcare workers and K-12 school staff will be eligible to schedule their COVID-19 vaccination appointments beginning on March 11.
They will join the other currently eligible groups, which includes those 65 and older and individuals with 2 or more of certain medical conditions, in being able to make appointments at any of the 170 sites across the state open to residents.
“We do want to make this change to be consistent with the Biden-Harris Administration’s directive, we don’t want people to be confused. And while here in Massachusetts we’ve been a national leader with how fast and efficiently we can administer doses, the fact remains that we’re only going to get about 150,000 first doses every week,” said Baker.
The state is working on making specific days of the week at the seven currently operating mass vaccination sites for educators to get vaccinated.
According to the administration, there are approximately 400,000 K-12 educators, child care workers and K-12 school staff in the state.
Due to limited supply of the vaccine, it is estimated that it will take about a month for all eligible individuals to secure their first appointment.
The state said that only a dramatic increase in federal supply of vaccines, including the recently authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccine, can speed up the timeframe.
For the month of March, the state has been notified that it will only be receiving one shipment of 58,000 doses of the J&J vaccine.
These doses have been allocated primarily to hospitals and health systems, said Baker.
More is not expected until the end of March or early April, though the Commonwealth is continuing to plan for an eventual widespread distribution of the J&J vaccine.
Over 250,000 doses in total are expected to be administered this week between first and second doses across all providers throughout the Commonwealth, said Baker.
“We’d like everybody to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, but it will take time to move the current folks who are left and the 65+ and two comorbidities categories who want to get vaccinated through the system, as well as the 400,000 educators who will be a part of this group,” said Baker.
The 2-1-1 vaccine appointment hotline remains open for individuals looking to book appointments by phone.
Appointments can also be made through the state’s website.
More information on the state’s vaccination process can be found here.
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