Starting Monday, anyone over the age of sixteen is eligible to make an appointment to get the coronavirus vaccine in Massachusetts.
The latest demographic to qualify for the vaccine is composed of about 1.7 million Massachusetts residents. The Bay State is one of the last states to make shots available to the general adult population.
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The federal government ordered states to open coronavirus vaccine appointments to all U.S. adults by April 19 earlier this month. Other states moved up the timeline, but Massachusetts was one of a handful that stuck with the latest date for universal eligibility in the country.
Over the weekend, Massachusetts hit the milestone of having over 2 million residents fully vaccinated. Over three million first doses have been administered, according to Sunday's vaccine report.
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Gov. Charlie Baker has said he expects "minimal disruption" to vaccine distribution in Massachusetts despite Tuesday's decision to pause the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine while the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration further investigate blood clots in six women that occurred in the days after receiving the J&J vaccine.
Baker said the Johnson & Johnson doses make up only a small portion of the state's vaccine supply, so he doesn't expect the pause to have a major impact in the Bay State.
The full timeline is available at mass.gov/COVIDVaccinePhases.
How to Sign Up
All residents can preregister to book an appointment at a mass vaccination sites, as well as some regional collaborative sites, at mass.gov/COVIDVaccine.
The state's online vaccine sign-up tool went live last month, changing the sign-up process for appointments at the large-scale sites. Preregistered residents will be added to a waiting list where they'll receive weekly status updates and be notified when an appointment becomes available.
Preregistration only takes a couple of minutes at vaccinesignup.mass.gov to get on a waiting list for an appointment at one of the large-scale sites.
Once an appointment opens up, residents will be notified via email, phone or text, based on their preference. The notification will include a link with a special code needed to schedule the appointment, which expires after one day.
The appointment must be accepted within 24 hours, otherwise the resident will be sent back into the queue and must wait for another appointment. Depending on supply, it could take weeks for people to be notified that an appointment is available at a mass vaccination site.
Residents can opt out of their preregistration at any time if they get an appointment elsewhere.
Appointments at other regional and local sites and pharmacies can be found at https://vaxfinder.mass.gov/
Residents can also go directly to the websites of Walgreens, CVS and Walmart to find open slots.
