Baker: 'There Won't Be A Vaccine For You' Without A Scheduled Appointment
BOSTON (CBS) -- Gov. Charlie Baker is making his stance clear following a crowded scene at the mass vaccination site in Danvers on Wednesday: Only those who are eligible and who have made an appointment should be getting vaccinated in Massachusetts.
"We have policies in place with respect to eligibility standards," Baker said at a Thursday news conference in Boston. "We expect those to be adhered to."
At the DoubleTree Hotel in Danvers Wednesday, extra COVID doses were given to people who did not have appointments. Word spread about extra vaccines that would be tossed out if they were not used.
Baker says that following the confusion, his administration has talked to Curativ, which operates the Danvers location, and other vaccination site managers.
"We don't believe that there should be sort of a 'cattle call' at the end of the day," he said. "People need to manage their dosing and manage their vaccine, and we expect all sites to do that going forward."
One of the things Baker said he's concerned about is long lines of non-eligible people at vaccination sites discouraging those with appointments from going to get their vaccine.
"If you don't have a scheduled appointment, there won't be a vaccine for you," he said. "If you have an appointment, there is a vaccine there for you."
Massachusetts has wasted more than 1,200 doses of the COVID vaccine, and following an I-Team investigation, there was a change in policy. The state is now saying clinics with leftover doses that are going to expire should give them out instead of throwing them away – even if the recipient is outside the current eligibility rules.
Baker at his news conference did not elaborate on what should happen with unused doses, but he said he's focused on sites managing the number of doses they have better.
"My view is really simple. You should vaccinate the people that have appointments, and you should be smart enough about how you use the vaccine that you've got to make sure that at the end of the day you have the vaccine you need," he said.
Dillon Rybka with CVS Health says the company is concerned about the confusion in Danvers, as some of its stores plan to start distributing the vaccine on Friday.
"That is not a way to get your vaccine," he said.
That's why they're keeping what the state is not - a call back list.
"That ensures that zero doses are wasted on any given day," said Rybka. "We'll know if an appointment was canceled and we'd have a freed-up slot, and we'd give that person a call to see if they can make it in by the day's end to receive their dose."
Visit Mass.Gov/CovidVaccine to find out when you're eligible and to book an appointment.