BOSTON (State House News Service) — After almost two months, the federal partnership that brought Federal Emergency and Management Agency and Department of Defense teams to the Hynes Convention Center to help vaccinate Bay Staters came to an end Sunday.
While the federal help and the extra 6,000 doses a day that came with the partnership since March 31 are a thing of the past, the state-run Hynes vaccination site will continue to operate into June under CIC Health, the state's COVID-19 Command Center said. While it was in operation, the partnership was responsible for delivering more than 310,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses.
"The staffing of the Community Vaccination Center at the Hynes with DOD and FEMA staff allowed the Commonwealth flexibility to bring the vaccine to some of the hardest hit communities," Region 1 Acting Regional Administrator and Federal Coordination Officer for New England Paul Ford said.
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The presence of the federal teams allowed the Hynes site to deploy mobile and pop-up vaccination teams to hard-hit communities including Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Fall River, and New Bedford, in addition to helping to process vaccinations at the Back Bay convention center, the administration said.
Gov. Charlie Baker said, "Massachusetts is a national leader in providing COVID-19 vaccines to our residents, and we are grateful for the support of the federal government in this partnership which helped contribute to those efforts."
Baker announced in early May that, with more vaccine doses going to community-based providers to attempt to reach people who have not yet received the vaccine, four mass vaccination sites — Gillette Stadium, Danvers Doubletree hotel, Hynes Convention Center and the Natick Mall — will close by the end of the June.
By Colin A. Young, State House News Service
(Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio)