“Look, I’m not happy with where we are,” said Baker after visiting the mass vaccination site that opened in Fenway Park this week. “I know that many other people don’t either. We have work to do and we know it. But one of the best things a good manager does is to acknowledge and understand that he has a problem and then blow his ass to find out how to fix it. “
State officials are improving their registration portal, Baker said, allowing residents to search for injection locations by zip code, and later this week will launch a call center to schedule appointments.
Baker was more direct in recognizing the deficiencies than in the past, but he also defended a decision that he admits to having delayed the vaccine program: prioritizing frontline health professionals and vulnerable residents in congregational care settings.
“I see how many people are unhappy with the launch,” he said. “There are some reasons for this unhappiness that have to do with the decisions we made early on, for which I do not apologize.”
Like other states, Massachusetts has a large portion of the doses it has received so far still stored in freezers in hospitals and drugstores, even with thousands of residents clamoring for injections. As of Monday night, Baker said, only 654,104 of the more than 1 million doses sent to suppliers in the state had been used.
Some of the unused doses were reserved for health professionals or long-term residents who received their first injections in the two-dose vaccine regime and are required to receive their second injection three to four weeks later.
But state officials admit that a frighteningly large proportion of high-risk residents do not want to be vaccinated. Therefore, hospitals and pharmacies that run vaccine clinics in elderly units have been given more doses than they are able to use.
“One of our big problems here in Massachusetts is [the federal government] gave us a lot more vaccine. . . than there were actually weapons available to vaccinate, ”said the governor.
Because of this, Baker said overdosed healthcare systems have started to contact some patients over 75 on their doctors’ networks to inform them that the vaccine is available.
Meanwhile, CVS and Walgreens, the pharmacies that received bulk vaccine shipments to nursing homes and other senior centers, will redistribute them to their Massachusetts outlets, including 30 pharmacies that will open for vaccines starting next week.
At least eight of these pharmacies are in high-risk neighborhoods, such as Roxbury, Mattapan and Dorchester, and communities, such as Chelsea, Revere and Everett, that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Vaccines coming soon be available at about 50 community health centers across the state and in cities like Brockton, where an injection site will be administered by the health council.
CVS Health said it will begin offering vaccines at an additional 18 retail pharmacies in Massachusetts on February 11, initially using 21,600 doses that have been reserved for long-term care locations.
The company said that eligible residents will have to apply in advance through the CVS website.
Hospital systems will also reallocate unused doses or use doses from new batches to administer clinics in high-risk communities. Mass General Brigham, the state’s largest system, started vaccinating in Lynn this week and will be attending clinics in Revere, Chelsea and Jamaica Plain next week.
Mass General Brigham is using a lottery system to invite some qualified residents to get vaccines in the coming weeks, but evaluating invitations for patients living in high-risk communities, said Dr. Tom Sequist, head of patient experience and director system equity. “We want to infuse equity in our strategy at each stage,” he said.
Health officials acknowledge that many people of color are skeptical of vaccines “based on the well-deserved distrust of the health care system that has been built over the years,” said Sequist. To overcome this resistance, he said, hospitals are working with “trusted messengers”, such as doctors of color, to emphasize the importance of vaccination.
While about 70 percent of Mass General Brigham’s health workers received vaccines in the past six weeks, only 56 percent of Hispanic workers and 42 percent of black workers did, he said. “We are not going to solve this [hesitancy] overnight, ”said Sequist. “But we are trying to improve every day.”
Baker said Massachusetts should have 165 vaccination sites, large and small, by mid-February. But even with the unused doses, he cited a shortage of vaccine supplies for the number of newly eligible residents and uncertainty about shipments, with federal authorities still warning their state counterparts just a week in advance about the batches.
“For anyone looking for an appointment, everyone should understand that it may take several weeks, in some cases, to schedule an appointment,” said the governor.
Baker said CIC Health, the startup that is managing vaccines at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium, will work with Boston and state officials to increase vaccination for community residents at the Reggie Lewis Center.
They will be “marking specific days for people in the neighborhood,” said Baker, and “talking to many of the trusted players in these communities about what they and we can do together to try to encourage people to take advantage of those days.” center.
The vaccinations started at the Lewis center academy on Tuesday. Marty Martinez, Boston’s head of health and human services, said the city would eventually use the larger athletics. He said the plan is to increase to 2,500 shots a day, but did not give a timetable.
Across the state, officials said more schedules will open soon so that Massachusetts can be ready when the volume of shipments increases – including expected shipments of a unique new vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson that can be authorized for emergency use in the later this month .
“We just added 100,000 new appointments this week,” said Baker. “We are going to add more next week and the next week and the next week and the week after.”
Deanna Pan of the Globe team contributed to this story.
Robert Weisman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeRobW. Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.