Where To Get The Coronavirus Vaccine In Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS — With all state residents age 16 or older eligible for the coronavirus vaccination on April 19, millions more Massachusetts residents will be looking for their appointments.

While the state's registration program was plagued with crashes and overwhelmed with more demand for shots than there was vaccine available throughout the winter, the revamped state site allows residents to pre-register for an appointment at mass vaccination sites, as well are regional collaboratives in Amherst and Marshfield, at any time and receive a notification when you are eligible and an appointment is available.

Several groups across the state are also committed to helping residents arrange for their vaccinations through programs that scan the web for available spots or provide individual help for those without internet access or who are having trouble navigating the state registration process.

Gov. Charlie Baker has urged those now eligible — all residents 55 years old or older, those with at least one qualified medical condition and many professions that interact with the public — to arrange their appointments in the next two weeks while they are increasingly available before the crush of newly eligible residents flood the system on Patriots' Day.

Massachusetts Pre-Registration site

Those willing to travel to one of the state's mass vaccination sites — or regional collaboratives in Marshfield and Amherst — can register for an appointment here.

Residents who are not eligible until April 19 can pre-register at any time and will be notified when they are eligible and an appointment is available. They will then have 24 hours to claim the appointment.

Mass vaccination sites are in Danvers, Dartmouth, the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Natick, the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston and Springfield.

Mass COVID Vaccine Finder site

Last month, Patch featured a trio of sisters from Beverly who designed a website that mines available appointments throughout the state and notifies those who registered when one becomes available via email.

Lilla Gabrieli, who designed the site along with her sisters, Abigail and Polly, told Patch that as of this week, their creation had helped about 35,000 state residents secure appointments.

The Mass COVID Vaccine Finder site can be found here.

"You shouldn't have to sit on your computer and keep checking something," Gabrieli told Patch. "You shouldn't have to keep refreshing."

Since almost everyone has their email with them on their cell phones, they thought, why not create something where they just alert people of open appointments by pinging them with an email?

Gabrieli said the system lets you know within a minute of the appointment becoming available.

"It's really an efficient way for people eligible to live their lives and be able to know when a vaccine appointment opens up, so they can be one of the first to sign up," Gabrieli said.

Mass COVID Vaccination Help site

Patch also recently featured Swampscott native and Somerville resident Diana Rastegayeva, whose network of more than 500 volunteers has helped more than 13,000 state residents find appointments convenient to them.

The Massachusetts COVID Vaccination Help site helps residents who are most at risk for severe COVID outcomes — and maybe have fallen through the cracks of the state's large-scale vaccination rollout — with finding an appointment near them.

"These are people who are less likely to succeed in the current system," Rastegayeva told Patch. "These are non-English-speaking people, people in the hardest-hit areas, (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), people with accessibility issues, older individuals.

"There are systemic barriers that are blocking out a lot of people."

Rastegayeva's site includes resources to help find vaccination appointments as well as a network of volunteers who will help book them, and interpreters for those who need help but don't speak English or Spanish (the two languages on the state site).

@Vaccinetime Twitter account

Those on Twitter can get frequent updates whenever slots open across the nation through following @vaccinetime.

Somerville resident Dan Cahoon developed the site that sends out Tweets with the number of appointments available at a location at a given time, the date they are available, often which type of vaccine is available, and links to sign up for an appointment.

Vaccine Hunters/Angels on Facebook

A Facebook group closing in on 15,000 members as of Friday, this is a dedicated group of those who will take time out of their days to help find appointments for those who are having trouble booking them.

Members of the group also share their experiences about getting the vaccine and answer questions and concerns from those who may be vaccine-hesitant, clear up misconceptions about the vaccine or worry about reported side effects.

Vaccine text alerts through covidvaccinetexts.com

This site will notify you via text message when appointments become available.

One facet of this site is that it pulls appointments from the federal pharmacy vaccination distribution to CVS locations, which will often be closer to home than the appointments pulled from statewide sites.

The federal pharmacy program has been adding more CVS locations each week with additional appointments going live each night.

The Dr. B standby COVID vaccine list

Those willing and able to head out for a vaccination shot on short notice can sign up here for alerts when a provider may have extra doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine on a given day that must be used immediately or risk spoiling.

U.S. Veterans Affairs eligibility

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is now vaccinating all veterans, as well as spouses, caretakers and widows of veterans through the "Save Lives" law.

Spouses and caretakers will need to provide the last four numbers a veteran's social security number to register. No additional documentation is necessary.

Vaccinations will be provided at the VA Center in Bedford as well as pop-up clinics throughout the state this month.

Massachusetts has set up a hotline to answer questions about the vaccination process and for eligible residents to book an appointment. Call 2-1-1 Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., if you have questions.