Colleague Murthy and his family spent hours discussing his first coronavirus vaccination at Eastfield Mall. Now the 81-year-old does not know when he will get his second.
Murthy, of Longmeadow, was one of about 3,600 people who received doses between January 29 and February 3 at one of the two state-run mass vaccination rooms with the Curative in California departing without a return appointment. rocky vaccination of vaccines in the Bay State.
“It should be much smoother,” Murthy told the Herald.
His wife, Helene Murthy, was more blunt: “It’s extremely frustrating.”
The state Department of Public Health said it strongly encourages all vaccination sites to schedule patients’ second appointments at the time of their first dose. But it is not necessary.
“As most of these programs are set up, you usually discuss your second dose while observing 15 minutes before you leave,” Governor Charlie Baker said in response to a question from Herald reporter during a news conference. this week.
“Not everyone will do it that way,” he continued. “But overall, the goal on most of these sites, which we think is the preferred option, is to get people booked when they return to get their second dose before they leave.”
This was not the case at the Eastfield Mall, the mass vaccination center in Springfield, which the state operates in partnership with Curative.
Curative is now sending emails to anyone who received their first dose between January 29 and February 3 at the Eastfield Mall or the DoubleTree at Hilton Hotel in Danvers, with a private link to schedule their second appointments. The state indicated that approximately 3600 people were not booked for their second shots during that time.
State Senator Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, said his office received calls and emails from voters like Murthy who left Eastfield Mall without a follow-up appointment.
“We did mark it for the Department of Public Health,” he said. “They did follow up and work with Curative to address the issue.”
Sly Douglas, Curative’s regional head in the northeast, said the company is starting to place appointments on the premises in Danvers as well as Springfield.
“Our IT developers have worked tirelessly to help people make the process easier for our patients,” Douglas told the Herald. “We implement the ability to schedule appointments as they run out and patients love them very much.”
Cambridge startup CIC Health, which operates the mass vaccination centers at Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park, offers people a QR code that provides a link to a website, where they can book their second survey while they wait.
But John Dowd, a Chatham resident who previously served as an advocate for former President Donald Trump, told the Herald that even the system was ‘difficult’ when he and his wife tried to find similar time slots to return to. their second shots.
“The sign-up system should allow couples to sign up together so they can stay together and get vaccinated together and get a second date,” Dowd said in an email.
For the Murthys – who have been waiting for the email to report to Kollegal for his second recording since Friday afternoon – the whole vaccination process was one big dose of tension.
“People are very anxious,” his wife said. “It’s completely impossible unless you’re at the right time and place to get what you need.”