BOSTON â Massachusetts is now expecting to receive a little more than 145,000 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of the year, a roughly 20 percent decline in the anticipated shipment that top officials on Friday characterized as frustrating but among the expected bumps in the process of rolling out a nationwide vaccination program.
âThe vaccine process, much like the pandemic itself, is fast-moving and ever-changing, and we will continue to pivot as necessary,â Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said.
Massachusetts had originally expected 180,000 doses this month of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday that the state had received word from the federal government that the next few allocations will be smaller than anticipated â 42,900 doses, instead of more than 59,000.
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Margo Mazzeo, a nurse in the COVID-19 testing center, is the first to receive Pfizerâs COVID-19 vaccine Thursday, administered by infection control nurse Jamie Lander at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.
photos by STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN â THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Registered nurse Nixon St. Bernard draws a dose of Pfizerâs COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe during the first round of hospital employee inoculations last month at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.
EAGLE FILE PHOTO
Eight stations are set up for the first group of Berkshire Medical Center employees to receive Pfizerâs COVID-19 vaccine Thursday at the hospital in Pittsfield.
Feds Cut Next Mass. Pfizer Vaccine Shipments by 20%; More Help Coming, Baker Says
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Gov. Charlie Baker said the reduction in shipment size from the federal government is frustrating, but won t seriously impact the first phase of vaccine distribution.
Vaccines will start going to long-term care facilities the week of Dec. 28, via CVS and Walgreens teams working in a partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Baker said.
The following group to be vaccinated in Massachusetts will be first responders; nursing and medical students and EMTs have been approved to be vaccinators.
Massachusetts upcoming shipments of Pfizer s coronavirus vaccine are being reduced by 20%, officials said Friday, a bump in Massachusetts rollout, which began this week with more than 6,200 vaccinations of health care workers.
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Updated on December 18, 2020 at 11:37 pm
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Massachusetts reported 5,632 new confirmed coronavirus cases and an additional 53 deaths on Friday.
There have now been 11,358 confirmed deaths and 302,933 cases, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Another 252 deaths are considered probably linked to COVID-19.
The percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive, on average, ticked up to 6.13%, according to the report.
The number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 has increased to 1,874. Of that number, 370 were listed as being in intensive care units and 204 are intubated, according to DPH.
Friday s numbers were announced just hours before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approve the second coronavirus vaccine.