Moderna's coronavirus vaccine started to arrive in Massachusetts Tuesday, with more expected to come Wednesday as part of a shipment of more than 116,000 doses.
The delivery adds to 59,475 doses from Pfizer that were distributed in the state in the first week they arrived.
Describing it as "terrific news," Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said Massachusetts should receive about 120,000 Moderna vaccine doses this week and that plans are set for all but 3,900 of them.
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Starting next week, Walgreens and CVS will administer the vaccine to patients and staff at long-term care facilities.
Long-term care facilities have been ravaged by the pandemic, home to a majority of the COVID-19 deaths in Massachusetts, and will eagerly await the vaccination to help keep vulnerable residents and staff safe.
Boston Medical Center received its first shipment of 75,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine on top of the 2,000 doses from Pfizer, which they have already begun administering to staff and patients.
“This is a huge step forward, we’re just not quite there yet," BMC Chief Pharmacy Officer David Twitchell said. "I’m just very excited for this amount of vaccine to be in the door.”
At the two state-run soldiers' homes, Sudders said staff have started reaching out to family members of residents to secure consent for the vaccine, while the pharmacies will handle consent for other facilities.
"The good news was both CVS and Walgreens modified what the consent requirements were, so we're going to send an abridged form to the guardian, but the guardian could also call the home and the staff can fill out the consent, a verbal consent, as well," Sudders said, adding that the original form was "quite long."
State House News Service contributed to this report.
