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According to vaccine appointment schedules maintained by pharmacies at CVS, Walgreens, Stop and Shop, and Big Y, as of Tuesday, Feb. 9, none of the commercial pharmacies - except for the Big Y in East Longmeadow - were distributing the vaccine or were otherwise able to book a vaccination appointment anytime this month in Western Massachusetts.
(Vaccination clinics at the East Longmeadow Big Y are being held on Wednesday, Feb. 10, and Thursday, Feb. 11. Go to Bigy.com for more information.)
More than 156,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been doled out by retail pharmacies, CVS, or Walgreens in Massachusetts - which is about 25 percent of all vaccines administered, according to the most recent vaccination tracking data from the state.
But in Western Massachusetts, people do not have ready access to such convenient locations. Still, they are listed and featured on Massachusetts’ official map of active vaccination sites.
WESTERN MASS SEEKING HELP
The issue is a pressing one as long lines are forming around Western Massachusetts vaccination sites that do have doses to give - including hospitals and temporary clinics like the one at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield.
Meanwhile, the process of seeking a vaccination appointment by visiting numerous vaccination clinic websites has become so frustrating that Massachusetts launched a hotline to help seniors schedule appointments (dial 211) and a 28-year-old developer created her own website to help people find available appointments, macovidvaccines.com.
On Tuesday, mascovidvaccines.com reported 6 vaccination sites in all of Western and Central Massachusetts that were offering COVID-19 vaccination appointments. But there are about 20 vaccination centers listed as active by Massachusetts in the Western and Central parts of the state.
The centers offering vaccination appointments were:
- Berkshire Community College Field House in Pittsfield
- Eastfield Mall in Springfield
- Greenfield Senior Center
- W. E. B. Du Bois Middle School in Great Barrington
- St. Elizabeth of Hungary in North Adams
- St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester.
The Springfield City Council recently sent a letter to Gov. Baker urging him to release more vaccines to Western Massachusetts and open more distribution centers, according to WWLP.
In response to complaints, Gov. Baker and state Legislators promised to “do better” during a press conference on Tuesday, MassLive reported.
Local state officials have been making noise about the lack of access to vaccines here for weeks. In late-January, negotiations ushered in thousands of more vaccine doses for Western and Central Massachusetts, but lawmakers said even then it would not be enough.
While Massachusetts has shipped enough vaccine doses to cover 9-16 percent of people in Western and Central Mass counties, state data does not make it clear how many have been administered locally.
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