Although a new increase in demand is likely with the entry into force, Baker’s administration said the pre-registration system and the improved logistics on the vaccines should help avoid problems such as website crashes and other brackets.
Some residents even received an email or text message on Sunday a full day earlier than they were eligible and invited them to book their appointments for Monday and beyond.
Kirsten Bakstran was one of them. She was willing to ‘stay awake until midnight to try to make an appointment’ and thought the process would probably take a few days, but happened to wake up with the text of the state inviting her to sign up. to get her shots.
‘I immediately got one at a mass vaccination site for this week. The process could not have been easier, ‘said the 26-year-old Natick resident, noting that not all of her new friends received the same invitation.
“I’m not sure why I was lucky enough to get it early, but I hope it will be just as easy for everyone else,” Bakstran said. “I think one of the benefits of being at the end of phase three is that the process looks smoother.”
Since last week, more than 1.6 million were pre-registered at mass vaccination centers and half a dozen local vaccination centers, said Kate Reilly, spokeswoman for the state’s COVID-19 response center. More than 1 million of these have been contacted to plan appointments.
Eligible residents can also use vaxfinder.mass.gov to search open appointment slots at other locations, such as pharmacies and grocery stores. The site was still functioning properly at 07:00 on Monday.
Olivia Ferri heard of problems with the state’s website when they were eligible in the past, and the 16-year-old Saugus resident stayed until midnight to try to book an appointment via the CVS website.
“I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to finally be eligible,” Ferri said in an email.
Her plan worked.
“I arrived at the site at exactly 12 o’clock, and although the appointments in Massachusetts were fully booked, I went through another state and then Massachusetts chose my place,” Ferri said. The first appointment is now scheduled for Friday at her local CVS. . (Although those 16 and older can now schedule appointments, the vaccine developed by Pfizer is the only one allowed for ages 16 and older.)
With her school, Austin Preparatory School in Reading, now back full-time, Ferri said she believes it is so important that we get most students / faculty / staff vaccinated as soon as possible.
The state stopped using the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine last week, allowing federal officials to examine rare blood clots at six recipients – with the suspension everywhere a setback for vaccination programs. Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading specialist in infectious diseases, said on Sunday that the decision on whether to resume the administration of the J&J vaccine should come on Friday.
Despite the break, Massachusetts now averages more than 90,000 shots a day. It completely vaccinated 2 million adults, setting it almost halfway to target Governor Charlie Baker to immunize 4.1 million residents by the fourth of July. Other vaccination sites run by hospitals, physician groups, retail pharmacies, community health centers and local collaboration groups continue to use the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna in Cambridge.
At a press conference last week in the Hynes, Baker said the decision to release vaccines for all adults on Monday is an important milestone in our mission to vaccinate residents and bring an end to this pandemic. ‘
Nationwide, nearly 130 million people aged 18 or older received at least one dose of vaccine, or about half of all adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over the weekend.
When Victoria Dominguez, 24, of Stoughton, received an e-mail from the state informing her that she was now eligible, she almost deleted it at first, thinking it was another reminder that she was on the waiting list was. When she realized it was an invitation to book an appointment, she almost immediately got a time slot from Gillette.
“I got a little frustrated about the vaccine inertia in Massachusetts and was almost disbelieved when I finally got the notification that I could register,” Dominguez said. “I take four out of five days a week public transportation to the city where I work in an office, so I believe the recent decision to expand was very necessary.”
Despite her ‘intense phobia of needles’, Dominguez said she now feels as if a little weight has been lifted off her shoulders.
“It’s comfortable to know that I can make my contribution to protecting those around me, and it gives me a sense of optimism that I lack for much of the pandemic,” she said.
John Hilliard of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Shannon Larson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @ shannonlarson98. Robert Weisman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeRobW. Emma Platoff can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @emmaplatoff.