Regional North Shore Vaccination Effort At Salem State Sputters

BEVERLY, MA — An effort to combine resources of five North Shore communities to offer a regional coronavirus vaccination site for residents 75 and older and those eligible in Phase One of the state's vaccine rollout at Salem State University on Wednesday sputtered when the "promised" doses of Pfizer vaccine never arrived.

Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill told residents in a series of robocalls on Tuesday that Beverly was joining with Danvers, Marblehead, Salem and Swampscott with the intent to hold two vaccinations at Salem State on Wednesday and Friday. Registration for the limited appointments was expected to open midday Tuesday but was suspended after officials learned about 1:45 p.m. that there was no guarantee the vaccine were coming.

"We have tried to respond quickly to what has become a frustrating process today in hopes of helping you get vaccine appointments for this week," Cahill said in the third robocall of the day to city residents Tuesday. "We received word that the promised doses of Pfizer vaccine will not arrive today, and since the time of its arrival is now uncertain, our regional partners have decided not to open the registration site until we have a vaccine in hand."

Cahill apologized for the confusion and told Beverly residents 75 or older who were looking for an appointment to contact his office at 978-605-2333 or mayorcahill@beverlyma.gov.

"We very much want to connect with you and try to help you in your efforts to get a vaccine appointment as soon as possible," he said.

Peabody announced it is planning on conducting a limited vaccination for that city's residents on Thursday by appointment. Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt expressed frustration at last week's City Council meeting that local communities and Boards of Health had been left out of Phase Two of the vaccination process after having success with first responders and health care workers in Phase One.

The Danvers DoubleTree mass vaccination site open to all state residents was set to hold its first vaccinations Wednesday morning. Appointments for that site — 2,500 as of last week — are made available each Thursday for all those eligible under the state's coronavirus rollout.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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