The Associated Press
Long lines formed and confusion spread at a mass coronavirus vaccination site in Massachusetts when news circulated that there were extra doses available to people who had not made appointments.
Curative, the company operating the site at a Danvers hotel, didn’t want the additional doses to go to waste, so workers told patients who were already registered with appointments later in the week to come to the location Wednesday to receive their vaccination, Miranda Gottlieb, a spokesperson for Curative said in an email to The Boston Globe.
But some people reported getting vaccinated even though they did not have an appointment and were not eligible under state guidelines. Massachusetts is currently vaccinating residents age 75 and older.
Vaccinations providers should be managing their supply so that they don’t have significant numbers of unused doses, Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday.
“If you don’t have an appointment, you won’t get a vaccine,” the Republican said at a press conference. “We don’t believe there should be a cattle call at the end of the day.”
It’s important that only those eligible for a vaccine receive a vaccine and those who have appointments keep them. Nobody wants to waste doses, Baker said, but providers have to manage doses to the appointments they have.
Jon Shumam, 46, told WBZ-TV that he rushed to the site near his home when he got a call from a friend and within an hour, got vaccinated.
The state this week issued guidance saying clinics with leftover doses should give them out rather than letting them go to waste, even if the recipient is outside the current eligibility rules.
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OLDER RESIDENTS-VACCINES
The state has begun hearing what Gov. Baker described as “disturbing reports” of individuals trying to take advantage of a new program that allows caregivers who are accompanying a person 75 or older to a mass vaccination site to also schedule their own vaccination at the same time and location even if they are not 75 or older, Baker said Thursday.
Some people have taken to social media searching for a senior who will bring them along to an appointment or in some cases are asking to be paid to drive them to an appointment in the hopes of getting a dose themselves.
Baker said seniors who need help should only reach out to someone they trust — either a family member or friend or spouse — and should not accept offers from someone they don’t know well.
“If you’re contacted by somebody soliciting to take you to a site, please report it to the authorities,” Baker said.
