Several hundred people line up to receive an AstraZeneca vaccination against the coronavirus at the forum of the DITIB central mosque in Cologne, Germany, on Saturday. Associated Press file photo
Vaccines against COVID-19 can be obtained by walking in to clinics this week in Pittsfield, North Adams and Great Barrington that are run by the Berkshire Vaccine Collaborative.
The details:
â Tuesday, 2 to 7 p.m., Berkshire Community College, Paterson Field House, 1350 West St., Pittsfield. (Pfizer vaccine)
â Thursday, 2 to 6 p.m., St. Elizabeth Parish Center, 70 Marshall St., North Adams. (Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines)
â Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m., W.E.B. DuBois Middle School, 313 Monument Valley Road, Great Barrington. (Pfizer vaccine)
MASSACHUSETTS VACCINATIONS: More than half of adults have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Massachusetts, which has one of the nationâs lowest vaccine hesitancy rates.
Of the roughly 5.5 million adults in Massachusetts, 2,835,762 people, or 51 percent, have been fully vaccinated as of Friday, according to the state. Among U.S. states, only Hawaii has a rate of vaccine unwillingness as low as the 11 percent rate in Massachusetts, according to research company Morning Consult.
President Joe Biden has said he wants 70 percent of adults to have received at least one vaccine dose by July 4, a rate Massachusetts has already passed.
Gov. Charlie Baker has said the state will begin phasing out mass vaccination sites to send more doses to regional sites, mobile clinics and primary care doctors, a shift he said can help reach groups in which vaccination rates have remained lower.
At a walk-in clinic at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School in Great Barrington, people wait in line Wednesday for coronavirus vaccines. The clinic is the first of its kind in Berkshire County. Another is scheduled here on Saturday, as well as on Thursday in Pittsfield and North Adams. HEATHER BELLOW â THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
The first walk-in vaccine clinic in Berkshire County went at a very nice pace Wednesday, said Heather Barbieri, The Berkshire Vaccine Collaborative s South County leader.
The clinic, held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School in Great Barrington, saw a total of 101 walk-ins along with 88 scheduled appointments. There were 300 doses available, and the leftovers can be used at the Saturday clinic, which also will combine scheduled appointments with walk-ins.
PITTSFIELD SEES WAVE OF CASES: As restrictions are lifted on social gatherings around the region, Pittsfieldâs top health official cautions that people continue to come down with COVID-19 infections.
In remarks to the Board of Health, Gina Armstrong noted that the city had 52 active cases of the disease.
âWeâre still seeing our daily cases come in in the teens,â Armstrong told the panel on Wednesday night. âWe have this wave going on. Weâre still seeing positive cases every day. Weâre still actively involved in the COVID fight, but weâre trending in a good direction now.â
President Joe Biden takes questions from reporters as he speaks about the COVID-19 vaccination program, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Tuesday. EVAN VUCCI â THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A day after Gov. Charlie Baker outlined changes to reach people who have not signed up for COVID-19 vaccines, President Joe Biden spelled out his next goal in the pandemic: administering at least one vaccine shot to 70 percent of the nation s adult population by July 4.
Biden said his revised national strategy will rely more on walk-in appointments, pop-up clinics, and mobile vaccination units. The president directed tens of thousands of pharmacies in the federal pharmacy program to offer walk-in appointments, said he was redirecting resources to support more pop-up clinics, smaller vaccination sites, and more mobile clinics; and pledged new vaccine allocations to rural health clinics. While walk-in appointments at pharmacies were described by the Whit