Snowstorm throws ‘curveball’ at Mass. vaccination efforts as Phase 2 begins
Officials are urging residents to directly contact their vaccination site if they feel they can't safely make their appointment.
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Massachusetts officials are working to keep COVID-19 vaccination sites open as much as possible, as the first day of Phase 2 of the state’s vaccine rollout coincides with the arrival of a heavy snowstorm Monday afternoon.
With some parts of Massachusetts expected to get 12 to 18 inches of snow, Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters that any public vaccination sites forced to close due to the weather Monday or Tuesday will directly contact individuals with appointments to help them reschedule.
Conversely, anyone who feels they cannot safely make their appointment due to the snow can reach out to their vaccination site and reschedule, Baker said, adding that most sites will aim to reschedule such appointments for later this week.
“It’s going to depend to some extent on how much they can get done today, and how much they need to reschedule,” the governor told reporters during a briefing Monday morning at the State House, directing residents to find their vaccination site’s contact information through the state’s dedicated COVID-19 vaccine webpage.
Phase 2 of the state’s vaccination rollout begins with the expansion of eligibility to all residents over the age of 75.
However, the snowstorm adds another layer of complexity for the process, after the state’s online signup process came under criticism last week for being difficult to navigate. State officials have also stressed that vaccination appointments will be limited for weeks due to the national supply of doses.
The snowstorm did cause one of the state’s mass vaccination sites, the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, to postpone its opening day Monday and automatically reschedule appointments for Feb. 8. The state’s largest sites, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough and Fenway Park in Boston, said they would work to reschedule appointments Monday afternoon if patients couldn’t come in earlier.
In anticipation of the winter storm on Monday, February 1, CIC Health, with the support of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is making the following changes to Monday’s vaccination schedule: pic.twitter.com/Gf0jBhOQb1
— CIC Health (@CIC_Health) February 1, 2021
Overall, Baker expressed confidence that public vaccination sites would be able to manage the storm, though he said “one thing that may be a little bit of a curveball” is the delay of hospitals’ efforts to vaccinate members of their patient panels.
“A number of health systems that had been vaccinating employees are now going to start vaccinating patients, who are in their panels, who are over the age of 75 and are eligible,” Baker said.
“They may not start doing that today, or not doing it tomorrow, and starting on Wednesday, just because of some of the issues associated with transportation,” he said. “But the other sites, for the most part, seem pretty confident that they’re going to be able to get most of the people they were planning to this week.”
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