First responders can start receiving COVID-19 vaccinations in Massachusetts next week, officials announced Monday, another milestone in the efforts to roll out immunization to key groups covered by the first distribution phase.
Officials also announced the Baker istration will increase the priority level for residents 75 years old and older to follow federal guidelines, placing them toward the front of the line in the second vaccination phase aimed to start sometime in February. Officials say the change will affect about 175,000 people in Massachusetts.
The more than 45,000 police officers, firefighters and EMTs in Massachusetts will begin to gain access to vaccinations on Jan. 11, which Gov. Charlie Baker said will "protect them from COVID and the terrible illness that can come with it."
Baker istration officials will make the vaccine available to first responders on three different fronts: some larger qualifying departments will be able to request vaccines to ister on-site, and individual first responders can schedule an appointment to get vaccinated at one of dozens of sites.
Over the next several weeks, the state will also set up what Baker called "mass vaccination sites" for first responders.
Details are still being finalized, but Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said she expects "to have a few sites operational as soon as possible." Those locations will have capacity to ister up to 2,000 vaccinations per day, she said.
So far, about 287,000 doses of the vaccine have been distributed to providers in Massachusetts, and about 116,000 have been istered, according to Baker.
