Baker says two million people will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Mass. by end of week – The Boston Globe

Governor Charlie Baker said Monday that the state hopes to pass 2 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the week, even as Massachusetts deals with a temporary shortage of single-shot Johnson & Johnson doses.

Baker made the comments during a briefing in Worcester following a tour of a local vaccination site, at the Family Health Center of Worcester.

And as I said many times, and I will continue to say, we have the infrastructure to administer a lot more vaccine than weve actually got, Baker said. But unfortunately, weve been told by the federal government that shipments, especially respect to the J&J vaccine, will be much lower this week after we received a one-time increase last week.

The governor said officials continue to hope that the federal governments increases with regard to vaccine supply generally and especially with respect to J&J, to get resolved and that the supply numbers, not just here in Massachusetts but around the rest of the country, get to the point where they can actually meet demand.

Baker reiterated that the vaccine saves lives and that people should get it once theyre eligible. So far 1.7 million people have been fully vaccinated in the state.

And on the question of the Johnson & Johnson shot, Baker said his team will touch base with the federal government again Tuesday.

We have a call tomorrow, and hopefully [theyll] shed a little more light on what the plan is for the J&J vaccine after this week and next, Baker said. Obviously you go from 100,000 doses, which created all kinds of opportunities to use that one dose in a variety of strategic ways, to 12,000 to four [thousand] makes it really hard to create a sustainable program with this. And what I think all of us are hoping happens is that we can get into, as a country, the same kind of rhythm on the one-dose J&J that weve been in for about a month now.

He said he hopes the weekly shipments remain consistent going forward.

Whatever the number is going to be, just stay there, Baker said, adding that he hopes the allotment remains consistent whether its anywhere from between 30,000 or 60,000 each week.

And Ive said several times that, you know, supply will be an issue. But I do believe that ... by the time we get to Memorial Day a significant number of people in Massachusetts will have been vaccinated, Baker said.

Family Health Center President and CEO Louis Brady also briefed reporters and said his organization has been battling the pandemic on the front lines and has long been dedicated to serving local residents.

I want to acknowledge that we at the health center have been committed to this for 49 years, that we have been working to ensure access and equity and making sure that anyone and everyone who wants healthcare can achieve it, Brady said.

He said his center felt that its important that our folks have access to this vaccine if were going to get any traction on rebuffing the pandemic. ... Were very pleased that we are now able to access the federal supply, and thats a critical component to the supply chain opening up.

This is a breaking news story that will be updated.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.

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Baker says two million people will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Mass. by end of week - The Boston Globe