Massachusetts residents seeking coronavirus vaccines competed for a smaller than usual number of new appointments Thursday morning at the state’s mass vaccination sites, even while there were signs of progress as the administration of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine began locally.
No new appointments were available at several mass vaccination sites Thursday, according to a message posted to the state’s Twitter account around 7 a.m. Thursday. New appointments at Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, and the Reggie Lewis Center were not available due to a limited federal vaccine supply and “a large number of previously scheduled second-dose appointments.”
The message advised eligible residents to seek appointments at other mass vaccination sites, including the DoubleTree Hotel in Danvers, the Natick Mall in Natick, the former Circuit City in Dartmouth, and the Eastfield Mall in Springfield. Shortly before 11 a.m., the state posted a new tweet that announced all appointments at mass vaccination sites had been booked.
A number of people vented their frustrations over that announcement via Twitter.
“Meanwhile, Massachusetts is open for business and the essential and service workers working at those businesses have no vaccine access,” tweeted Dr. Megan Cole, an assistant professor and health services researcher at the Boston University School of Public Health, in response to the late-morning announcement.
Due to high demand and a very limited vaccine supply from the federal government, all appointments at mass vaccination locations for next week have been booked.
— Mass.gov (@MassGov) March 4, 2021
The state COVID-19 Response Command Center later clarified to the Globe that no new first-dose appointments had been made available at all at Gillette Stadium, Fenway Park, or the Reggie Lewis Center on Thursday.
New appointments for the state’s mass vaccination centers are released every Thursday, but only about 12,000 were allotted Thursday morning. That’s down from 50,000 last week.
Also on Thursday, some of the first doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine were being administered by Tufts Medical Center. Mary Chin, chief executive officer of the Asian American Civic Association, received her shot at the Boston hospital on Thursday morning. The vaccine, authorized by the FDA US Food and Drug Administration last weekend for emergency use, has the potential to dramatically speed up vaccination efforts because it only requires one dose and is easier to ship and store.
Even as appointments went fast Thursday, the pool of eligible residents is set to dramatically expand next week with Governor Charlie Baker’s announcement Wednesday that K-12 educators, school staff, and child-care workers will be eligible to book appointments on March 11. About 400,000 individuals will join those 65 and older and those with two or more qualifying health conditions in the eligibility pool.
Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that no new appointments were released Thursday at Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, and the Reggie Lewis Center. Travis Andersen of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano.