Pharmacists began vaccinating residents and staff of long-term care facilities in Massachusetts on Monday.”Hallelujah,” said Shirley Nolan, the first resident to be vaccinated Monday in the dining room of the Edgar P. Benjamin Healthcare Center in Boston. Teams from CVS and Walgreens pharmacies will travel to about 2,000 facilities across Massachusetts to administer the vaccine to approximately 173,000 people starting Monday, according to the Department of Public health. The doses come from the state’s second shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.”I’m glad that I got a shot of something that can help this virus that’s going around,” Nolan, a retired teacher, said after receiving her first dose. “This could be the start of helping people stop dying.”Pharmacists will also need to return to all the facilities to administer a second dose. As of Dec. 22, the DPH said 35,618 people across the state have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 146,675 doses of the two authorized vaccines have arrived for use in the state so far.The state does not report on who has been vaccinated but indicates in a new weekly report that 74% of the doses administered so far were given in a hospital setting and front-line health care workers were at the top of the priority list in the vaccination plan.State health officials also said they anticipate vaccinations beginning for first responders in mid-January. Officials are considering potential vaccination sites and partners for the effort.
BOSTON —
Pharmacists began vaccinating residents and staff of long-term care facilities in Massachusetts on Monday.
“Hallelujah,” said Shirley Nolan, the first resident to be vaccinated Monday in the dining room of the Edgar P. Benjamin Healthcare Center in Boston.
Teams from CVS and Walgreens pharmacies will travel to about 2,000 facilities across Massachusetts to administer the vaccine to approximately 173,000 people starting Monday, according to the Department of Public health. The doses come from the state’s second shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
“I’m glad that I got a shot of something that can help this virus that’s going around,” Nolan, a retired teacher, said after receiving her first dose. “This could be the start of helping people stop dying.”
Pharmacists will also need to return to all the facilities to administer a second dose.
As of Dec. 22, the DPH said 35,618 people across the state have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 146,675 doses of the two authorized vaccines have arrived for use in the state so far.
The state does not report on who has been vaccinated but indicates in a new weekly report that 74% of the doses administered so far were given in a hospital setting and front-line health care workers were at the top of the priority list in the vaccination plan.
State health officials also said they anticipate vaccinations beginning for first responders in mid-January. Officials are considering potential vaccination sites and partners for the effort.