The state’s COVID-19 vaccine website now lists available appointments for some locations, part of a new platform the Baker administration launched Friday to smooth the sometimes-challenging process of securing doses.

A new appointment-finder hub on mass.gov/covidvaccine lists all public vaccine sites across Massachusetts, searchable by location — much like the existing website — but will now add information on whether there are vaccination slots available and link visitors directly to the booking page.

Baker administration officials who outlined the new tool said it will eliminate an existing barrier by centralizing availability and searching in one location, rather than listing vaccine sites and requiring residents to search through multiple different separate sites to learn where appointments are still open.

They began developing the update after the launch of Phase 2 in the rollout plan, when adults 75 and older gained vaccine access. Users may search for locations near them by entering their zip code, city or town name, or the name of a vaccination location. Users may also filter results by the type of vaccination site.

All of the state-run mass vaccination sites will list their appointment openings. The data will be as current as possible, officials said, and will indicate when it was last updated.

The many other vaccine sites run by local boards of health, retail pharmacies, and health care providers will show up under searches, but they might not list appointment availability in the early days of the new site. Baker administration officials say they are working to add live appointment information for additional vaccine locations.

The new web feature, also available at vaxfinder.mass.gov, is usable on mobile devices and includes a Google Translate feature to offer automated translations into a range of languages.

Gov. Charlie Baker said he is frustrated that a tight vaccine supply is preventing health care providers from vaccinating as many people against COVID-19 as they can.

Baker said the state has the capacity to administer 242,000 doses of vaccine a week, but has only been receiving 103,000 to 106,000 doses a week.

“At this point, we have far more capacity to deliver vaccine than we have available vaccine,” Baker said Saturday after touring a mass vaccination site at the Eastfield Mall Springfield. “I’d like to get to the point where we are in the business of delivering as much vaccine as we possibly can given the capacity we have built to the people of the commonwealth, because, let’s face it, this is big a part of helping us get over COVID and getting it behind us.”

Massachusetts has now administered more than 1 million doses of vaccine, Baker said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Website Changes Aim to Ease Work of Making Vaccine Appointments

by State House News Service time to read: 2 min
0