New Tool May Help You Get A Vaccine Appointment Sooner

Berkshire County residents that are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination shots know all too well how difficult it has been to get an appointment. Well, there is yet one more plan underway to help make that task a little bit easier.

People that are looking to schedule an appointment can begin using a new preregistration sign-up tool beginning Friday. The signup tool is aimed at making it easier to book a time at any of the state's seven mass vaccination sites. The closest of those sites is at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, which is about an hour or so away depending on where you live in the county, but it just might beat waiting for a local appointment. State health officials say that more sites will be added to the preregistration system in April. The new tool will be at mass.gov/COVIDvaccine.

Additionally, state health officials say that the state is also dedicating four days at mass vaccination sites to vaccinate only childcare workers and K-12 educators and staff.

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As for eligibility, disability advocates in the Berkshires and beyond have pushed the state to open up vaccine eligibility to a larger list of comorbidities, making signing up more accessible and creating additional channels for people who are unable to go to one of the large-scale vaccination sites. The Berkshire Eagle reports that in response, vaccine leaders have tweaked the registration process and developed plans to begin at-home inoculations with the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Finally, after being told not to expect more supplies of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine until April, officials say that Massachusetts will in fact be receiving 19,000 new doses of the single- shot vaccine next week. Those vaccines will be directed to community health centers deemed able to reach people who have a harder time gaining access to the shots.