74,000 new vaccination appointments available to book Thursday in Mass.

BOSTON — About 74,000 new vaccine appointments will be available online Thursday for mass vaccination and pharmacy sites across the state, with 100,000 new appointments available by the end of the week.

The state announced Wednesday that 30 new retail pharmacy sites are also opening at CVS and Walgreens locations around the state, and Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said 30,000 of the new appointments will be at pharmacies. CVS will add 21,000 appointments Thursday, with 3,000 new time slots added daily Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Walgreens is scheduling 7,620 appointments this week, including 1,000 new appointments released each day, while Wegmans, Big Y and Price Chopper have 3,100 appointments this week and Stop and Shop and Hannaford have 2,000 slots.

The state said more than 53,000 new appointments for mass vaccination sites in Springfield, Danvers, Gillette Stadium, and Fenway Park will be available to book Thursday online.

And starting Thursday, individuals accompanying someone 75 and older to their vaccine appointments at any of the state’s mass vaccination sites can book appointments to get vaccinated at the same time.

The decision to allow trusted family, friends, neighbors or caregivers, regardless of age or health status, to get vaccinated along with vulnerable seniors came after consultation with councils on aging and other advocates for older adults.

Anyone planning to accompany a senior 75 or older to a mass vaccination site is being asked to book an appointment for themselves on the same day at the same site as close to the same time as the older resident as possible.

Sudders also urged people not to show up early for appointments to avoid creating long lines, which have been reported in Springfield and other locations. Gov. Charlie Baker called up the National Guard to help deal with logistics and crowd control at the Eastfield Mall and the DoubleTree Hotel vaccination sites after saying for days he didn’t think the guard was needed.

While the new policy does not apply to anyone who has already been vaccinated or booked an appointment, the governor said any companion may get their first dose at the same time the senior citizen returns for a second dose.

The Department of Public Health’s most recent vaccine progress report from last Thursday reported that 105,681 residents 70 and older had received at least their first dose, and Baker said he would know more Friday about how many people 75 and older had been vaccinated.

Baker also announced that two more mass vaccination sites at the Natick Mall and the former Circuit City in Dartmouth will open later this month with the capacity at first to administer 500 shots a day at each site.

The Natick site will partner with LabCorp to begin vaccinating Massachusetts residents on Feb. 22, ramping up to as many as 3,000 doses a day. The Dartmouth location will open two days later on Feb. 24 in partnership with Curative. That site will eventually have the capacity to handle 2,000 patients a day.

Appointments for the new sites will go online beginning Feb. 18.

-The State House News Service contributed to this report

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