Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that teachers, early educators and school staff members will be able to start enrolling in COVID-19 vaccine appointments starting March 11th.
“We believe teachers should be absolutely part of the game starting next week,” the governor said.
The group includes about 400,000 people, Baker said. Some mass vaccination sites are expected to set aside specific days to vaccinate educators, but he said all of this is still being discovered.
As soon as Baker made the announcement of a Gloucester school, Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken let out a loud exclamation, “Yes!”
The announcement came a day after President Joe Biden said he wants all teachers, staff and child care providers to be able to receive the vaccine at pharmacies starting next week.
“We’re making this announcement consistent with the Biden-Harris directive,” Baker said. “We don’t want people to get confused. But obviously we need a lot more doses long before the current guidelines that the feds have applied to us if we really want to get through this group as quickly as possible.”
The demand for vaccines in the state has greatly exceeded supply, causing frustration and chaos, as hundreds of thousands of eligible people compete for the tens of thousands of appointments available each week.
Pfizer and Moderna are expected to increase production in March and the unique Johnson & Johnson vaccine approved last week paves the way for clinics in Massachusetts and across the country, offering hope for a vaccination effort. accelerated.
But Baker said Wednesday that the White House told states not to expect a substantial increase in supply until the end of March and warned that adding teachers and school staff to the pool of eligible residents means it will take longer. to get to the next rounds. of eligibility.
“It will probably take a while for all the people who are part of this eligible group to make their way through the system,” he said. “Our estimates are that the first dose appointments will probably start covering everyone in this group about a month after they are eligible.”
CVS added faculty and staff to its list of eligibility for the COVID vaccine for Massachusetts ahead of an update by Governor Charlie Baker Wednesday morning.
CVS added faculty and staff to its eligibility list for the COVID vaccine in Massachusetts Wednesday morning ahead of Baker’s announcement.
According to the CVS website, K-12 teachers, daycare, preschoolers and staff are eligible to make vaccination appointments at Massachusetts locations.
“We are aligning with the updated guidelines of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program by establishing appointments available for preschool educators up to 12 educators, staff and daycare workers from the 17 states where we currently offer COVID-19 vaccines, including those from MA and RI, ”a CVS spokesman said.
Biden’s announcement already had Massachusetts teachers looking forward to Tuesday.
“That’s huge,” said Merrie Najimy, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “This will bring a lot of joy to all the employees of the school.”
The teachers ’association is expected to hold a media availability at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday to respond to Baker’s announcement.
The State House news service contributed to this report.