Two hospital groups resume new first dose appointments

BOSTON — Two major hospital groups say they are now scheduling new appointments for first doses of the vaccine, just weeks after alerting patients they would no longer be able to offer the appointments as the state shifted doses to mass vaccination sites.

Mass General Brigham and Beth Isreal Lahey Health stopped scheduling new vaccination appointments at their clinics two weeks ago after the state said it was shifting the distribution of the majority of doses it receives to mass vaccination sites.

Mass General Brigham posted an announcement on its website Tuesday that says starting March 1, the hospital will resume offering limited new vaccine appointments to eligible patients. The hospital says it will contact eligible patients through its Patient Gateway, email, or text message. “We are working closely with state officials to ensure that we receive a steady supply of vaccine to schedule appointments every week,” the statement said.

Beth Israel Lahey Health also announced it will resume offering new appointments for shots this week to patients who are eligible under the state’s current eligibility guidelines. The hospital says it will contact patients and invite them to make appointments at one of its clinics.

So far, 1.4 million Massachusetts residents have had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and Gov. Charlie Baker says the state is making progress, but supply remains the biggest obstacle.

[ Cities, towns upset state pulled vaccine rug out from under them ]

During a Tuesday news briefing, Baker said Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine, which could get approved for emergency use by the FDA on Friday, could be a big boost to the vaccination effort.

“If J&J gets approved, it’s a single dose,” said Baker. “That’s a really big deal in the context of how this process works. It doesn’t require some of the deep freeze issues with respect to storing and thawing and all the rest that Moderna and Pfizer require.”

On Thursday, thousands of new appointments will be added to the state’s vaccine appointment website. Baker said the state is constantly making updates to the website, which crashed multiple times last week as 1 million newly eligible residents rushed to secure slots, to ensure it doesn’t crash again. Baker said they are working on a series of improvements that will be rolled out over the next few weeks. He says he is also focused on making sure the system has the capacity to handle several million people visiting at the same time as they search for appointments.

[ Vaccine hacks: Tricks you can use to increase your chances of booking appointment ]

“We work with the number of vendors at this point in time on a variety of elements that are associated with not just the website but the whole vaccine program generally and everybody is on point with respect to the fact that this is really important,” Baker said. “We can and we better make sure we get it done and get it done well for people.”

He also reiterated that appointments made available each week are based on the supply the state gets from the federal government. With Pfizer and Moderna both saying they ramp up the number of doses shipped next month and the possibility of the Johnson and Johnson shot coming online, he believes that could help take out some of the anxiety of trying to book appointments.

Download the free Boston 25 News app for up-to-the-minute push alerts