State, CVS Pivoting To Walk-In Vaccines As Demand Slows

For those getting vaccinated at six of the state's seven mass sites or the hundreds of CVS locations here, getting a shot will be as easy as walking up.

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday afternoon all but one of the mass vaccination sites will begin taking walk-in appointments beginning Monday. Eligible residents will be able to walk up to the Hynes Convention Center and Reggie Lewis Center in Boston and sites in Danvers, Dartmouth, Springfield and Natick for a shot.

"This could be a great new chapter to the program overall, and paired with that targeted community-based effort ... we should be able to reach many more of our residents and build on the national-leading success we've had in distributing vaccines so far, which will help us further reopen our economy, protect our communities, and fundamentally provide a safe solution to so many people here in Massachusetts so that we can get back to normal," Baker said.

Some vaccination sites have already been offering walk-up service, according to Baker. But Wednesday's announcements open the option up to most people who want one.

Baker's spoke from a clinic at the Encore Boston Harbor casino hours after CVS said people can walk up to 389 of its Massachusetts stores — which is almost all of the state's locations — and get vaccinated without an appointment effective immediately. CVS's move followed President Joe Biden's directive to pharmacies to begin accepting walk-in vaccinations.

"We continue to orchestrate an all-out effort to vaccinate the nation against COVID-19," CVS Health President Kare Lynch said in a release.

Baker's move comes days after he announced four of the state's mass vaccination sites will begin ramping down. Mass sites in Boston, Danvers, Natick and Foxborough will close by June.

Winding down the mass vaccination sites is part of the state's shifting strategy to target communities that have been harder to reach. While some 70 percent of the eligible population has received at least one shot, many have either been hesitant or unable to secure one.

"Our wastage of vaccines continues to be one of the lowest in the country at .085 percent, so even the more we go out to multiple sites, we are getting every shot into people's arms," Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said.

Baker last week dropped the state's outdoor mask mandate and has said all businesses might be able to reopen without restrictions before August as the reopening accelerates.

Read: Hospital Efforts To Inoculate Increase As Demand For Vaccine Dips

Materials from State House News Service was used in this report