Pfizer and BioNTech say a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine could extend protection against the virus.
Massachusetts health officials reported another 169 confirmed coronavirus cases and no new deaths on Friday, while the positive test rate returned to 0.5% after spending a month below that mark.
The report pushed the state's confirmed COVID-19 caseload to 664,575 since the start of the pandemic and its death toll to 17,646.
WATCH ANYTIME FOR FREE
 |
>Stream NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are. |
The state's COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, are far lower than they were several months ago, though the number of new cases reported Friday was the most reported in a single day since June 5.
The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases ticked down to 87; the figure was once nearly 4,000. Of those currently hospitalized, 25 are listed as being in intensive care units and 11 are intubated.
Get updates on what's happening in Boston to your inbox. Sign up for our >News Headlines newsletter.
Once above 30%, Massachusetts' seven-day average of positive tests rose slightly to 0.5% from 0.47%. It was last at 0.5% on June 9.
More Mass. COVID News
More than 8.7 million vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts as of Friday. That includes over 4.4 million first shots and nearly 4 million second shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 279,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.
Health officials on Friday reported that a total of 4,259,438 Bay State residents have been fully vaccinated.
