Tomorrow morning, our administration will release the schedule to all remaining groups in the MA vaccine plan. Each resident will know when they will be eligible for a vaccine.
Thank you for making MA a national leader in the vaccination effort!
– Charlie Baker (@MassGovernor) March 16, 2021
The Baker government has been criticized by many for the troubled launch of the vaccine in the state, which was hampered by a faulty online naming portal that was subject to crashes and crashes in the first few weeks, without the option of people making an appointment over the phone, leaving residents frustrated.
The state ended up opening a direct telephone line in response to the demands of residents, especially those aged 75 and over who were among the first to qualify for the vaccine.
To date, more than 2.6 million vaccines have been administered in the state, according to data updated on Tuesday afternoon by the Department of Public Health. The state is working to vaccinate 4.1 million adults.
The number of people fully vaccinated rose to 946,306 on Tuesday, according to the department. This includes those who received two injections of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or an injection of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The vaccine’s launch in the state has shown signs of improvement in recent weeks, according to a recent Globe analysis of state vaccine data.
Massachusetts ranks second in New England, behind Connecticut, in total doses administered by 100,000 residents and is tenth among all states, according to data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In contrast, the state ranked last in New England during the first week of January, when only 2,197 doses were administered by 100,000 residents.
The launch met resistance from some state workers. About 30 percent of the Massachusetts State Police, about 850 members in all, have not been vaccinated, although the department has its own vaccination clinics and emergency personnel are among the first group eligible to receive the vaccine.
Other groups had to wait for the state to give them the green light. Educators and school officials became eligible for the vaccine on Thursday, as state and federal officials pressured schools to reopen for personal learning.
The slow start of implementation appears to have impacted Baker’s popularity among voters. A survey by UMass Amherst and WCVB-TV released on Monday showed that its approval rating plummeted from 78 percent in August to 52 percent this month, a drop that the lead researcher attributed to the way the Baker government handled with the pandemic.
Nick Stoico can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @NickStoico.