Massachusetts to get a moderate increase in vaccine supply, including J&J doses

Massachusetts will again see a modest increase in vaccine supplies next week, including thousands of unexpected doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Government Charlie Baker’s government said Monday night that Massachusetts received 170,000 first doses of COVID-19 vaccines this week, after receiving 155,000 from the federal government last week.

The upcoming shipment contains 8,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which officials said was a surprise after they were previously told to expect a break in delivery until the end of March after the state’s initial shipment, as the company increase production.

The rest of the cargo for next week consists of doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Officials noted that the increased allocation does not include doses sent by federal programs, such as the federal government’s vaccination partnership with retail pharmacies, which received 95,000 first and second doses in Massachusetts last week.

Massachusetts has been slowly building up its weekly first-dose supply over the past few weeks, after President Joe Biden’s government increased state enrollment for the first week of January to about 100,000 first-doses. However, officials stressed that the demand for the vaccines still exceeds the available supply, and that the available appointments were quickly discussed.

The relatively small increase comes when officials in neighboring Connecticut on Monday announced plans to accelerate their implementation to all residents over the age of 16 on April 5, after officials said the Biden government had told them to make a “significant” increase in doses to be expected. a few weeks from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

While Massachusetts has accelerated the pace of its overall implementation, Baker has not revealed any similar plans.

However, the state’s website still says that phase 3 of vaccination, when the suitability for the general public is extended, will start at some point in April. Currently, residents over the age of 65, individuals with qualifying health conditions and K-12 school and child care center employees are eligible to receive the vaccines in Massachusetts, in addition to other specific groups that were prioritized earlier in the three-phase implementation of the state.

As of Monday night, the state has administered more than 1,681,000 residents at least one dose. Officials hope to reach at least 4.1 million of the state’s 6.9 million residents.

Baker said Massachusetts has the ability to vaccinate residents up to two or three times the current rate as supply increases. However, he has increasingly expressed frustration over the fact that manufacturers have missed the targets for previous deliveries, although companies say they are on track to achieve their targets to significantly increase this production.

“If we ever get to that point, and I really hope we do, the ability for us to move fast to vaccinate large sections of the remaining population in Massachusetts is very high,” Baker said last week. .