Rhode Island to make about 9,000 vaccine slots available

Providence, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island planned to make about 9,000 more coronavirus vaccine appointment slots available Friday, much more than initially expected, the state Department of Health said.

“If you’re eligible, don’t miss your shot,” Gov. Daniel McKee wrote in a tweet.

State officials had said Thursday that about 2,500 appointments would be available Friday.

Health Department spokesperson Joseph Wendelken told WPRI-TV that the state reconfigured its inventory and would make the appointments available at four of the state’s five mass vaccination sites, in Cranston, Middletown, South Kingstown and Woonsocket.

The latter two sites are not scheduled to open until this weekend. Both will have about 400 doses available to start.

Currently, residents age 60 and older as well as adults with underlying health conditions are eligible.

Nearly 316,000 vaccine first doses have been administered in Rhode Island, while almost 195,000 people in the state have been fully vaccinated, according to state figures released Friday.

The state also announced almost 500 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one more coronavirus-related death on Friday.

Of the new cases, 417 were people who tested positive for the first time on Thursday and the remainder were in people who tested positive for the first time on previous days.

There have now been almost 136,000 known cases and 2,608 deaths in the state.

There were 117 COVID-positive patients in Rhode Island’s hospitals as of Wednesday, down slightly from the previous day.