BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Although Gov. Baker said it's been a "bumpy" vaccination distribution effort so far, he said the state's COVID-19 vaccine timeline is still on track.
As of Tuesday, approximately 75,000 first doses of Pfizer and Moderna's two-part coronavirus vaccines had been administered to the Commonwealth's frontline healthcare workers, and to staff and residents at long-term care facilities.
"While it is lumpy and bumpy, which we said it would be, it is moving forward," Baker said at a press conference Wednesday. "And it speaks well with respects to what’s ahead in 2021."
Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said COVID-19 vaccinations also began Tuesday at the state's two Soldiers' Homes in Chelsea and Holyoke for hundreds of residents and staff. Their second rounds of doses will be administered January 19th.
After the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts raised concerns about the state's vaccination timeline, Gov. Baker said the next group to be vaccinated in Phase One of the distribution plan will be the state's first responders.
"This is a great example where one size fits all is not the right answer," Baker said. "We need to make sure that we do something that we believe can work administratively and from a reporting point of view, but will also work for the fact that we have a lot of different ways of organizing and structuring how first responders operate and how their programs are administered in Massachusetts."
Baker said local leaders will meet Thursday to discuss the best way to vaccinate first responders in each municipality, and that his administration will release a detailed plan next week.
Although Massachusetts, along with more than a dozen other states, received fewer doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government than it initially requested, Baker said the state is still expecting to receive 300,000 doses before the end of the year.
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Written by Brit Smith
(Photo: Getty Images)