Residents can now zip up coronavirus vaccination sites by zip code, as the state is looking for ways to improve its registration system after technical problems plagued the reporting for the elderly.
The state on Sunday added the zip code search feature to the website for finding vaccines.
Residents can now enter their zip code to find mass vaccination sites, pharmacies and grocery stores and local vaccination clinics within a radius of three to 50 miles. The map showing the locations with color-coded stars is still available.
The update to the search function comes as the state prepares to vaccinate Monday 75 years and older.
And it follows a cacophony of calls from lawyers and lawmakers to ease the online registration process after technical bugs and awkward sites sowed confusion and anxiety among many who scrambled to report themselves and their loved ones when slots last Wednesday first once opened it.
“This is a debacle,” Senator Eric Lesser told the Herald earlier this week. “When we have to undergo mass vaccinations, there is mass confusion.”
Lesser, D-Longmeadow, introduced emergency legislation that would create a centralized online registration system instead of relying on third-party sites for reservations, and a phone line to register those who do not have access to the Internet.
The bill was quickly co-sponsored by 57 lawmakers, including State Senator Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, who led a letter to dozens of colleagues asking governments Charlie Baker to start a 1-800 hotline.
Baker said Thursday the state will open a call center next week. But the administration has so far refused to overhaul its online registration system in a central format.
Meanwhile, municipalities are starting to launch their own call centers to register residents for shots and connect those who are not yet eligible with information to help them.
Lawrence officials on Sunday announced their plans to set up a call center and said in a press release: ‘The call center is an integral part of supporting our older population with the technological barriers that most older people in our community face. have camps. ‘