Residents can now search for coronavirus vaccination locations by zip code, while the state is looking for ways to improve its registration system after technical difficulties have affected seniors’ enrollments.
The state added the postal code search feature to its vaccine tracking website on Sunday.
Residents can now enter their zip code to find local mass vaccination locations, pharmacies, supermarkets and local vaccination clinics within a radius of five to 80 kilometers. The map showing these locations using color-coded stars is still available.
The search feature is updated as the state prepares to start vaccinating residents 75 and older on Monday.
And it follows a cacophony of calls from advocates and lawmakers to facilitate the online registration process after technical flaws and clumsy websites sowed confusion and anxiety among many who struggled to apply and their loved ones when vacancies were opened last Wednesday .
“It’s a disaster,” state senator Eric Lesser told the Herald earlier this week. “When we should have mass vaccinations, instead, we are having mass confusion.”
Lesser, D-Longmeadow, introduced emergency legislation that would create a centralized online registration system instead of relying on third party websites to make reservations and launch a hotline to help those without Internet access to register for. the pictures.
The bill was quickly co-sponsored by 57 lawmakers, including state senator Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, who led a letter with dozens of her colleagues asking Governor Charlie Baker to start a 1-800 hotline.
Baker said on Thursday that the state will open a call center next week. But the government has so far avoided reforming its online registration system to a centralized format.
In the meantime, municipalities are beginning to launch their own call centers to help register residents for filming and connect those who are not yet eligible with information to help them in the future.
Lawrence employees on Sunday announced plans to open a call center on Monday, saying in a press release: “The call center is an integral part of helping our elderly population with the technological barriers that most seniors face in our community ”.