The expanded list of qualifying health conditions puts Massachusetts in line with the CDC’s recommendations.
Shortly after midnight, the state updated its website to reflect the addition of the new priority groups.
Massachusetts recently switched to a pre-registration system for its state-administered mass vaccination sites. Massachusetts residents can apply in advance, regardless of eligibility status, and be notified when it is their turn to make an appointment at one of the massif locations. Qualified residents can also use vaxfinder.mass.gov to search for available times at other locations, such as pharmacies and supermarkets.
The state is currently building a tool that will allow pre-registered residents to change their registration if they qualify under the conditions just added. The feature will be “available soon,” said a statement.
The vaxfinder.mass.gov website was still functioning properly in the early hours of the morning. In the past, when additional groups became eligible for the vaccine, the mad rush to sign up for an appointment resulted in the site experiencing intermittent outages or total downtime.
At least one major pharmacy where vaccine appointments are available, CVS, updated its eligibility requirements shortly after midnight to reflect the state’s updated vaccine distribution plan. But at 7 am, all appointments at locations across the state were packed.
As of 12:47 pm, the CVS website announced that all services in the state were full.
The coronavirus case count is steadily increasing, as 90 percent of school districts in Massachusetts prepare to send elementary students back to full-time, in-person learning. Last week, COVID-19 cases among students and public school officials reached the highest weekly total since the beginning of the school year.
Despite the record report – 801 new cases of coronavirus among students and 244 among school officials in the week ending April 3 – state officials and public health experts said the numbers are not a sign that schools are not safe .
They cited several factors, including an increase in virus cases among young people and the number of children and staff within schools recently reaching the highest levels since the closure of classrooms in March 2020.
CDC officials said the face-to-face school is safe for children, as long as precautions are taken, including keeping one meter of distance between students and wearing universal masks.
But returning to face-to-face learning has been complicated in some communities, such as Springfield and Lynn, due to a lack of school bus drivers.
Tom Hamilton, executive director of the Massachusetts School Transportation Association, said there are about 1,200 fewer school bus drivers at work since the pandemic sent students home abruptly in March 2020. School leaders in Springfield have alerted families last week that a lack of bus drivers could cause disruptions to transport on Monday.
Some districts, including Boston and Worcester, received exemptions from the state to delay the return to face-to-face learning. All primary schools must be in full presence by May 3, according to state education officials.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, warned that the United States “is not yet out of danger”. Coronavirus cases and deaths across the country have increased in recent weeks. But Fauci said in an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta over the weekend that the country is “almost there”.
As long as the U.S. takes two main steps – vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible and doubling public health mitigation efforts, such as wearing masks – additional deaths, hospitalizations and infections can be avoided, he said.
This came in the wake of a number of states, including Massachusetts, easing its restrictions on coronavirus in recent weeks.
“This is not going to last forever,” said Fauci. “Just take it a little longer and the vaccine and vaccinations of people in this country will stop the increase in the virus.”
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3 million people, on average, are receiving a COVID-19 vaccine daily in the United States. The country also set a new record on Saturday, with 4 million doses administered for the first time in a single day.
The number of people fully vaccinated in Massachusetts – with two doses of Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – rose to 1,478,520 on Sunday, according to the Department of Public Health.
Amanda Kaufman, of the Globe team, contributed.
Shannon Larson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @ shannonlarson98. Laura Crimaldi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @lauracrimaldi.