BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts expects to receive 20% fewer doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this year after the federal government reduced its allotment, state officials said Friday.
The state joins more than a dozen others that have been told their vaccine shipments will be smaller than planned in coming weeks. Instead of receiving 180,000, Massachusetts now expects to get 145,000.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker said he hasn’t received an explanation for the cutback.
“We’re certainly frustrated,” Baker said at a COVID-19 briefing on Friday. “We’re working to get clarity on what this means, what happened and how that bump will be dealt with along the way.”
Baker said he expects to get more answers during a call with federal officials next week. Despite the reduced allotment, Baker said he expects the state to have “more than enough” doses in the first months of 2021.
Vaccine cutbacks in some states have raised concerns about potential delays in shots for health care workers and long-term care residents.
Senior Trump administration officials on Thursday downplayed the risk of delays, citing a confusion over semantics and changes to the delivery schedule, while Pfizer said its production levels have not changed.
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VACCINATIONS CONTINUE
A longtime employee at a state hospital will be the first state employee in Massachusetts to receive the COVID-19 vaccine Friday.
State health officials say Sophal “Paula” Soth, the janitorial supervisor at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, was expected to get the shot at the hospital where she has worked for 30 years.
The facility is a teaching hospital located in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood that serves a large number of economically disadvantaged patients.
State officials have previously said they expect to receive 300,000 doses of the vaccine before the end of December. The first phase of vaccinations in the state will target health care workers, emergency responders and residents in long-term care facilities.
Earlier in the week, 96-year-old Margaret Klessens, a World War II veteran in Bedford, was among the first VA patients in the country to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
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CITIES SEEK SMALL BUSINESS HELP
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and the leaders of more than 50 other Massachusetts communities are calling on state officials to do more to help local businesses amid the pandemic.
The group sent a letter Thursday urging state legislative leaders to set aside tens of millions of dollars in additional relief for small businesses.
Walsh noted that Boston has set aside several million dollars in grants to help small businesses hit hard by the downturn.
“Boston along with other cities and towns across the state continue to find new and creative ways to support our small businesses,” Walsh said. “But we need our state and federal partners to leverage all the tools at their disposal.”
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