20,000 vaccination appointments open for Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium

BOSTON — Around 20,000 more Covid-19 vaccine appointments will be available Thursday to book at two of the state’s biggest vaccination sites.

Massachusetts residents who are 75 and older along with those eligible during Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout, can book appointments today at the mass vaccination site at Fenway Park, which will open Monday, as well as Gillette Stadium.

Fenway Park will serve as the first mass vaccination site in the city of Boston with 500 vaccinations a day to start, then ramping up to thousands. That will make it accessible by public transportation and also help vaccinate a diverse population, which includes some of the hardest hit by the pandemic. The site is being run by CIC Health, a local company that launched the state’s first mass vaccination site at Gillette Stadium.

Just yesterday, Gillette announced 10,000 vaccines have been administered, and starting Thursday will expand its hours and will begin operating seven days a week.

But on Wednesday, the first day that residents 75 and older could make appointments on the state’s website, people found either it was hard to navigate or couldn’t make one because everything in their area was booked.

State's vaccine website a ‘nightmare’ for many

“We feel like it’s a haven for the best doctors, the best hospitals in the world, and they can’t have a roll out a little bit better than this?” said Carlotta McCarthy of Andover.

McCarthy falls into the 75 and older group that is eligible to get vaccinated when Phase 2 begins on Feb. 1. She tried to sign up but couldn’t find anything in her area.

“Nothing in Billerica, nothing in Chelmsford, nothing in Lowell. I mean these are big areas and not one spot,” McCarthy said. “I guess I’m frustrated, angry and disappointed.”

How to navigate the state’s COVID-19 vaccine sign-up site

Gov. Charlie Baker addressed the concerns on Wednesday and asked those who are not able to make an appointment right away, to be patient. He added there are more than one million residents over 75 years old that are eligible to receive the vaccine starting Monday, but the state has received less than one million doses since December. He says once the state gets more vaccines, more time slots for appointments will be added.

In nearby New Hampshire, the state created a centralized vaccination website which is more streamlined compared to Massachusetts. When asked why the state doesn’t have something similar, Baker said he’d try to get an answer to that question.

CIC health says 20,000 new appointments are available to book and eligible residents can schedule them on CIC’s website.

Appointments are now available at our @fenwaypark #COVID19vaccination site.

👉https://t.co/FSs5zcsarh!

The site will follow the State’s vaccine distribution timeline and will open with capacity for 500 vaccinations per day.

Here's who's eligible: pic.twitter.com/uieShGbL80
— CIC Health (@CIC_Health) January 28, 2021