Gov expects ‘minimal disruptions’ due to single-shot pause
Gov. Charlie Baker said he expects only “minimal disruptions” to coronavirus vaccinations in Massachusetts amid the nationwide pause on administering Johnson & Johnson doses and worked to reassure potentially skittish shotseekers that the vaccines are “safe.”
Johnson & Johnson is “currently a small portion of our supply,” Baker said in a press conference Wednesday. “In the immediate future we’re expecting minimal disruptions to schedule new appointments.”
The one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine was just 3% of the Bay State’s total federal allocation this week, Baker said.
The state received about 11,600 J&J doses, and about 340,000 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Massachusetts is also in line for a “modest” Moderna and Pfizer increase of roughly 8% next week, Baker said.
“The vast majority of the doses we administer are Pfizer and Moderna doses, and I always thought of the J&J as sort of the accelerant to where we already are,” Baker said. “We’re going to wait and see what federal guidance looks like on this after they complete their investigation.”
The governor also worked to curb any vaccine hesitancy as the feds investigate six cases of rare blood clots out of 6.8 million J&J doses administered nationwide.
“I think the vaccines remain safe and effective,” Baker said, adding that he’s “glad” the feds are doing their due diligence.
Despite the disruption, Baker still expects the state to reach 2 million people fully vaccinated this week and open eligibility to all residents ages 16 and up on Monday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said the state’s homebound vaccination program, which uses the one-dose J&J vaccine, would be able to pivot to the two-dose alternatives.
“It makes it a little more logistically challenging,” Sudders said. “But we can certainly do that, and several of our mobile programs at this point use Moderna.”