Massachusetts

Baker Says 2M Mass. Residents Will Be Fully Vaccinated By End of Week

The state is now a nationwide leader in vaccinations.

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Two million people will be fully vaccinated in Massachusetts by the end of the week, Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday.

The state is now a nationwide leader in vaccinations.

“The most recent numbers show Massachusetts ranks fourth in the country for vaccination percentages,” said Dr. Michael Misialek, of Newton Wellesley Hospital.

Misialek says this is good news going forward.

“At this pace sometime in the summer we should have over 75-percent of patients vaccinated, nearly everybody over the age of 18," he said.

According to Monday's vaccine report from the state's Department of Public Health, 1,789,004 Massachusetts residents are fully vaccinated against the virus.

More than 4.5 million total doses have now been administered in the state, including 2,767,991 first-dose shots of either Pfizer of Moderna. Over 181,000 Bay State residents have now received Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine.

One bump in the road, though, is the supply of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, especially as the state gets ready to vaccinate people 16 and up starting next Monday.

“Obviously you go from 100,000 doses, which created all kinds of opportunities, to use that one dose in a variety of strategic ways, to the 12,000 to 4,000, makes it really hard to create a sustainable program,” Baker said.

For people like Donna and Millard Mitchell of Lowell who were dreading traveling to a mass vaccination site twice for COVID vaccines, a Johnson and Johnson mobile vaccination clinic was perfect.

Many organizations have back-up plans for other vaccines, but J&J's is desirable in many situations because it’s one dose.

“I’m still optimistic the federal government and manufactures will be able to increase production to meet demand,” Misialek said.

Baker says he has a phone call with federal officials Tuesday to talk about how many Johnson and Johnson vaccines the state will be getting going forward.

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