Charlie Baker confident that Massachusetts can reach vaccination goals by July 4
And he's hoping the state well surpasses its targets.
Massachusetts is aiming to vaccinate just over 4 million of its nearly 6.9 million residents to effectively achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.
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And with news of a big impending boost in vaccine supply, and plans to make everyone over the age of 16 eligible for an appointment by April 19, Gov. Charlie Baker is reportedly confident that the state can reach that goal by the Fourth of July.
“We ran a pretty decent [vaccination] program so far, despite the bumps along the way,” Baker told The Boston Globe in an interview Wednesday, after announcing the timeline for when remaining residents will be allowed to book appointments under the state’s vaccine rollout.
“We’ll continue to work as aggressively as we can to get as many people vaccinated as soon as we can between now . . . and the summer,” he said.
According to the state’s daily vaccination report Thursday, 972,103 residents in Massachusetts have been fully vaccinated with either two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one shot of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine — all three of which have shown to be 100 percent protective against hospitalization or death due to COVID-19. And another 883,407 residents have gotten their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, according to the report.
Currently, only residents over the age of 65, individuals with multiple qualifying health conditions, and K-12 school and child care center employees are eligible to book appointments, in addition to health care workers, nursing home residents, first responders, and members of other vulnerable groups prioritized during Phase 1.
However, after receiving word Tuesday from the federal government that vaccine-makers are projected to significantly increase supply — which, to Baker’s frustration, has been a constraining factor through the first three months of the rollout — for the “very end of March and for the month of April,” the governor announced steps Wednesday to make all Bay Staters over the age of 16 vaccine eligible by April 19, beginning with those over the age of 60 and certain workers this coming Monday.
Last week, President Joe Biden said the country expects to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in the United States.
Baker told the Globe that Massachusetts should be “significantly down the road” toward its 4 million-person vaccination goal by Memorial Day.
The target is based on the fact not all of state’s 6.9 million residents are able — or expected — to be vaccinated. Officials say that children currently should not get the vaccine, since two of the three manufacturers did not initially test the drug on those under the age of 18 (Pfizer’s vaccine, the exception, is approved for those as young as 16) and are only now beginning to do so.
According to the U.S. census, 5.5 million Massachusetts residents are over the age of 18. Public health experts say the state must vaccinate around 70 percent of the population to achieve herd immunity, which would be around 3.8 million. However, surveys suggest that Massachusetts has one of the highest percentages in the country of people who are eager to get the vaccine.
According to the Globe, Baker said he would ultimately like to vaccinate 4.5 to 5 million residents — or more than 90 percent of the adult population.
“I can be aspirational, can’t I?” he said.
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