December 18, 2020 GMT
BOSTON (AP) Massachusetts expects to receive 20% fewer doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this year after the federal government reduced its allotment, state officials said Friday.
The state joins more than a dozen others that have been told their vaccine shipments will be smaller than planned in coming weeks. Instead of receiving 180,000, Massachusetts now expects to get 145,000.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker said he hasn’t received an explanation for the cutback.
“We’re certainly frustrated,” Baker said at a COVID-19 briefing on Friday. “We’re working to get clarity on what this means, what happened and how that bump will be dealt with along the way.”
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Two Massachusetts prisoners, held in two separate facilities, died from COVID-19 this week, according to the state Department of Correction.
One man, in his 40s, had been held at MCI-Shirley, and was hospitalized for more than two weeks before he died Sunday. The other prisoner was in his 70s and had been in custody at MCI-Concord. He died at a local hospital Monday.
The deaths come as the virus is spiking throughout the state and correctional facilities. MCI-Concord has the highest number of active cases among prisoners with 159 men listed as testing positive. There are also 79 active case at MCI-Norfolk, nine at MCI-Shirley Medium, two at the North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner and one case each at MCI-Shirley Minimum, MCI-Cedar Junction, the Massachusetts Treatment Center and the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital Correctional Unit.