Governor announces the exact date range when you can get vaccinated

BOSTON — The state’s vaccination distribution plan has changed. Phase 2 starts February 1st, and there has been an adjustment to the priority groups.

The order of Phase Two will now be:

• Individuals 75+
• Individuals 65+ or with 2+ comorbidities
• Early education and K-12 workers, transit, utility, food and agriculture, sanitation, public works and public health workers, and
• Individuals with one comorbidity

The exact dates for when the rest of the groups get vaccinated depends on the vaccine supply from the feds and the demand for appointments, but the state expects that to happen within a few weeks.

For anyone criticizing the order, Gov. Charlie Baker says, “I do believe at the end of the day, we made the right decision out of the gate.”

The state does have a lot of work to do if it’s going to become a leader in the U.S. when it comes to vaccinations.

Bloomberg’s COVID-19 vaccine tracker lists Massachusetts 17th in the nation when it comes to the number of doses administered and 43rd in the nation when it comes to the percent of available doses used.

Baker has been under a lot of pressure from several different groups, all clamoring to move up in line for the vaccine.

“I get the fact that by choosing a number of very targeted communities and populations that we thought we should start with that would create a slower rollout and a slower ramp-up than if you just took big groups by age and said go,” Baker said.

“I’m thrilled to see that the 65 plus population has been moved up. They face the highest risks of COVID-19 complications,” said Josh Obeiter, who owns Seniors Helping Seniors. “The news is elating for so many people. We have caregivers and client families alike that are really willing to travel across the state to get this vaccine. They’ll take a two-hour road trip to get this vaccine because they know what this means for them and their quality of life. Maybe it means that they’ll be able to be with their grandchildren at the next holiday dinner.”

Seniors Helping Seniors is a non-medical home care agency that exclusively employs older adults as companions and caregivers to other older adults in need of assistance. As you can imagine, both the virus and the isolation the pandemic requires have hit them especially hard.

“People that have a cognitive impairment, they died in a higher percentage than they normally would have in 2020 because the people are lacking that structure and that stimulation,” said Obeiter. “So, there’s a double-edged sword. So, there’s just a sigh of relief. There’s hope, and there’s just this sense of excitement that we are kind of turning the corner around COVID-19. I think in particular with our older adults who are no longer working, who no longer fall into a particular category in Phase 1, they just feel heard and recognized.”

The state expects everyone in phase 1 to have been vaccinated by the end of the month and knows it can take up until April to vaccinate everyone in phase 2. And after that, the vaccine is fair game to everyone else in the general public.

“When you go online and find where you want to get vaccinated, there is a self-attestation that you also fill out that is up now,” said Secretary Marylou Sudders Secretary of Health and Human Services.

How to Get a Vaccine

Individuals with questions about how to get a vaccine should follow these steps:

• Visit mass.gov/COVIDvaccine to find your phase and priority group
• If you are eligible: use mass.gov/COVIDVaccineMap to find a vaccine clinic near you
• Make an appointment online and fill out the attestation form

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