As Massachusetts is going through a major vaccination milestone this weekend, it is soon taking another step to further accelerate the inoculation process across the state.
Beginning on Monday, Natick Mall opens as the state’s newest mass vaccination site, joining four others already installed and functioning for residents eligible to receive their vaccines.
The Natick website, serviced by LabCorp, will start giving about 500 doses of the vaccine a day. Eventually, the authorities hope to administer about 3,000 doses a day.
The site will start administering 500 doses per day, with a target of scaling to 3,000 per day.
Natick Mall joins Gillette Stadium, Fenway Park, DoubleTree in Danvers and Eastfield Mall in Springfield as mass vaccination sites open in the state so far. The former Circuit City in Dartmouth is scheduled to open on February 24.
People say that a fifth mass vaccination site is a step in the right direction, but they say that there are still not enough of them.
“I think we need more vaccination sites near the Cape Cod area because down there are a lot of older people who need vaccines and the rest of the age group and they are driving long distances to get the vaccine,” Benjamin Baker, of Raynham , said.
“I think it’s a great idea, especially since there are so many people who haven’t caught it yet and with all this virus circulating, it’s better if they have more sites,” said Tammi Stevens, also from Raynham.
The federal government attributed the delays to the winter weather and lack of staff. In Framingham, the coronavirus clinic on Saturday was delayed for two weeks, before the state announced that more than 135,000 doses had arrived three days earlier than expected.
Mass vaccination sites currently account for about half of the available consultations, according to the state’s vaccine location website.
The state reached a critical milestone on Saturday, announcing that more than one million people have already received the first dose of the vaccine and more than 370,000 have already received the second dose.
In total, there are almost 1.4 million doses of the vaccine administered in Bahia.
The good news comes after a frustrating week of setbacks in the state’s vaccination process, including delays in vaccine shipments due to bad weather.
More than 100,000 doses ended up arriving on Friday, three days before the dreaded one, meaning that the appointments did not have to be canceled, according to Governor Charlie Baker ‘s administration.
“The administration appreciates the efforts made to bring this critical shipment here and is not anticipating additional delays by the federal government for vaccine shipments at this time,” Command Center spokeswoman Kate Reilly said on Friday.
State and local leaders organized a roundtable on Saturday to discuss racial disparities with the distribution of vaccines in Massachusetts. Lawmakers say that needy communities need all the resources they can get.
Baker earlier in the week had suggested sending the national guard south to recover the delayed vaccine shipments.
The state’s vaccination registration site also crashed on Thursday, shortly after it was opened to people 65 and older. The commitment slots for this age group are being filled quickly.