Massachusetts Opens Vaccine Eligibility Up to All April 19th

Massachusetts is opening up vaccine eligibility to more groups beginning on Monday, and then to all residents 16 years old and up in the Commonwealth on April 19th.

Governor Charlie Baker announced the dates Wednesday that all remaining residents and certain worker groups will be eligible for a vaccine. The Commonwealth’s detailed timeline adheres to the original timeline for the three phases first announced in December.

All residents can preregister to book an appointment at a mass vaccination site at mass.gov/COVIDVaccine. Appointments will be offered based on eligibility and available of appointments nearby. It is expected that more sites will come online as part of the preregistration process in April.

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On March 22nd, residents 60 and older and certain workers will become eligible. On April 5th, residents 55 and older and residents with one certain medical condition will be able to start looking for an appointment, and then on April 19th, the general public ages 16 years of age and older will be eligible.

The full timeline is available at mass.gov/COVIDVaccinePhases.

As for the availability of vaccine, the Baker Administration has received assurances from the federal government that an increased vaccine supply will be available soon. Depending on supply, it could take weeks for people to be notified that an appointment is available at a mass vaccination site. The Administration provided the weekly update for doses allocated from the federal government.

This week, the state is receiving a modest increase in supply of first doses, approximately 170,000. This includes an unexpected 8,000 doses of J&J vaccine.

In total, the Commonwealth will receive 316,000 first and second doses as part of the state allocation. These figures don’t include doses provided through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program or to Federally Qualified Health Centers.