Vaccination seekers were once afraid that Patriots ‘Day would bring a repeat of February 18, a star-crossed day when a maelstrom of websites collapsed, system errors and unannounced notices dropped the tens of thousands’ hopes. Baker administration officials and vaccines say that while there is likely to be a new increase in demand, the pre-registration system and the improved logistics at the vaccination sites have prepared them better.
In fact, many public health experts are already looking at the other side of the coming boom when the most urgent challenge will reach the remote, the ambivalent and the hesitant.
“At some point we will reach a point where it will turn around and that it will be more than the demand,” said Gabriela Andujar Vazquez, doctor of infectious diseases at Tufts Medical Center.
Massachusetts as a whole is not there yet. But signs of the shift can now be seen in some other states, from New Hampshire to Mississippi, where there are now more vaccine doses available than people want it – and even in some pockets of Massachusetts where community residents have been hardest hit. by the coronavirus remain skeptical about the vaccine.
“The last 5,000 people vaccinated in Lynn are going to be just as much work as the first 55,000 people,” said Kiame Mahaniah, chief executive of the Lynn Community Health Center. There has been a shorter wait for shots over the past week.
Mahaniah saw a 20 percent exhibit rate for vaccinations at the Lynn Health Center last Tuesday, after the state stopped using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine so federal officials could examine rare blood clots at six recipients.
But demand for the shots remains steady on larger vaccination sites. “We fill every void every week,” said Dr. Tom Sequist, chief patient experience and equity officer of General Mass Brigham, said he had vaccinated more than 150,000 patients and staff. “There are still many residents there who are anxious and want to get the vaccine.”
Although the suspension of the single-dose J&J shot was a setback for vaccine programs everywhere, Massachusetts is now increasing an average of more than 90,000 shots per 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.
The giant vaccination centers, like other sites run by hospitals, doctors’ groups, retail pharmacies, community health centers and local collaborative groups, continue to use Moderna’s two-dose vaccines at Pfizer-BioNTech and Cambridge. The absence of J & J’s shots, at least by the end of this week, will delay vaccinations elsewhere, as people who had to take the one-shot J & J vaccine had to switch to one of the vaccines that require two shots.
Nevertheless, Baker said at a press conference in the Hynes last week that the decision to make vaccine bookings for all adults on Monday – a step that is also taking place in much of the country – ‘is an important milestone in our mission to be eligible to be eligible. residents and bring this pandemic to an end. ”
As the state modestly increases in its weekly vaccinations, and the White House makes live shipments to CVS stores and other channels appear, the potential for residents eager to shoot seems frustrating. Yet there are places in Massachusetts where people still struggle to book their appointments.
At the Northampton vaccination clinic she runs, Merridith O’Leary, the city’s director of public health, said appointments usually disappear within an hour.
“We need the stock,” O’Leary said. ‘We have the capacity and the resources. We just need the stock. ”
The pre-registration system of Baker administration officials installed last month put hundreds of thousands of residents in line for shots even before they were eligible.
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 them were contacted to schedule appointments, she said, while about 300,000 others abandoned their registration, often because they found vaccination slots through their own doctors or local pharmacies.
Government officials and operators at the injection site have already begun the outreach efforts for hesitant residents. Vaccines send doses of the Hynes to pop-up vaccination sites in Chelsea, Revere, New Bedford, Fall River and Boston, such as East Boston, Roxbury and Mattapan.
And the Baker administration said it is working with the Boston Red Sox and community organizations to sponsor “Red Sox Week” at the Hynes, and this week discussed 20,000 first doses of vaccine on-site for color communities.
Vaccinating the people who are most reluctant to get the vaccine is Lynn’s Health Center Mahanja said, “You will have to meet them where they are, both philosophically and logistically.” In Lynn, he said his health center is preparing for the expansion of pop-up and mobile vaccination clinics, along with a door-to-door campaign.
The challenge that Massachusetts will face in the coming weeks as demand in other states begins to increase demand. New Hampshire allows foreign residents to be vaccinated there from Monday, with Governor Chris Sununu citing an abundance of supply.
In Mississippi, tens of thousands of doses have sat unwanted this month. And in Texas, vaccines are available at pharmacies in rural areas, even though CVS locations in the city are still being booked.
In big cities, finding a vaccine is a nightmare, said Kelly Cheek, a director of the Texas Rural Health Association. “But if you’re willing to drive three or four hours, you can find it.”
Administrators said the past two weeks have seen a surprising shift in the past two weeks at several affiliates of North Country Healthcare, which serves a mostly rural patient population in New Hampshire.
Initially, the problem was insufficient: providers had the ability to administer five or ten times as many doses of vaccine as they received, said James Patry, director of patient experience. Patients had to wait to book slots.
As supply increased and the hesitation continued, Patry said the hospital faced a new challenge: “lack of arms to inject the vaccine.”
But on Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts, no one expects another shortage of weapons, and Martinez believes the state’s mass vaccination sites can handle the surge in traffic.
“We want to be ready to ride the wave,” he said.
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.