All Massachusetts residents can now preregister for a COVID-19 vaccination appointment at one of the state's seven mass vaccination sites.
The new online tool went live Friday, changing the sign-up process for appointments at the large-scale sites. All appointments will now be booked through the new preregistration site and are first come first serve for those eligible.
At a press conference Friday morning, Gov. Charlie Baker said about 200,000 people had already preregistered for the vaccine. He added that Tuesday is the earliest that people who signed up Friday will begin to get notified about their appointments.
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While anyone can sign up starting Friday, people will not be contacted until they are eligible under state guidelines.
"Anybody who wants to register can register, OK, but the folks who will be dealt with initially by the site will be those who are currently eligible," Baker said as he announced the new system for vaccination appointments Wednesday in an attempt to rectify what has been a rocky vaccine rollout.
Initially, this program is only for the state’s seven mass vaccination sites, but more sites will be added to the preregistration system in April.
Preregistration only takes a couple of minutes at vaccinesignup.mass.gov to get on a waiting list for an appointment at one of these large-scale sites:
- Boston: Fenway Park - located at 4 Jersey Street
- Boston (Roxbury): Reggie Lewis Center (Roxbury Community College) - located at 1350 Tremont Street
- Danvers: DoubleTree Hotel - located at 50 Ferncroft Road
- Dartmouth: Former Circuit City - located at 456 State Road
- Foxboro: Gillette Stadium - located at 1 Patriot Place
- Natick: Natick Mall - located at 1235 Worcester Street
- Springfield: Eastfield Mall - located at 1655 Boston Road
How It Works
People can preregister on the state's website to book an appointment at the nearest mass vaccination site based on zip code.
People will be asked to fill out some basic personal information on a preregistration form.
Preregistered residents will be added to a waiting list where they'll receive weekly status updates and be notified when an appointment becomes available.
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.
Residents can opt out of their preregistration at any time if they get an appointment elsewhere.
The preregistration system allows family members and caregivers to fill out the form on behalf of someone else in order to accommodate elderly residents. Residents who do not have internet access or have trouble with the process can call 211 to preregister.
