Danvers Mass Vaccination Site Opens At 500 Shots Per Day

DANVERS, MA — The North Shore mass vaccination site at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Danvers opened Wednesday with 500 people expected to receive the shot of Pfizer vaccine by day's end.

The California-based company Curative is running the site. The Pfizer vaccine is a two-shot vaccine with those receiving their first shot on Wednesday expected to receive an email Thursday to set up a time for the second shot in about three weeks.

Vaccinations will be available at the mass vaccination sites for all those eligible, some pharmacy and grocery store chains and local health care offices for primarily their own patients over the first few weeks of Phase Two of the state's vaccine rollout.

Some communities are also working to set up sites for their residents but may have limited or delayed supplies for those efforts.

"We encourage people to first check out the mass vaccination sites," Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday at a news conference at Fenway Park, another mass vaccination site. "The sites are highly efficient. And they have the capacity to do hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of shots per day."

Like Danvers, Fenway Park is also starting at 500 doses a day with Baker saying both sites will be capable of doing up to 8,000 shots per week in the next few weeks depending on the supply sent to the state.

Baker said the state's goal is to get to one million vaccinations per month by the time they are available to the general public regardless of age or profession.

Baker acknowledged his disappointment with the start of Phase Two of state vaccinations, which began Monday and now includes all residents 75 years old and older.

"I'm not happy with where we are. I know a lot of other people aren't either," Baker said. "We have work to do and we know that."

The Danvers site joins Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium and sites in Springfield and Roxbury as mass vaccination sites. Baker said two more will be launched "in the not-too-distant future" and asked for patience for those seeking appointments at the start of Phase Two.

"Everybody should understand that it may take several weeks, in some cases, to schedule an appointment," he said. "Everyone who is eligible in each phase of this will get an appointment."

Baker said a call center will be set up for those — especially senior citizens — who are having issues with the signup or do not have computer access. He said that center should be activated by the end of the week.

"I get how unhappy people are with the rollout," he said. "I hear it."

Appointment slots for the upcoming week will be released on Thursdays for Danvers and other mass vaccination sites. Last week, all openings were taken within hours.

"They are getting filled," Baker said. "And most of them are getting filled through the website."

Some North Shore officials have expressed aggravation with the state for taking over much of the start of Phase Two of the vaccinations and leaving local Boards of Health with limited or no supply of the vaccine for their own clinics.

Peabody is holding a vaccination with a limited amount of doses for its residents on Thursday.

An attempt by Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Salem and Swampscott to pool resources for a regional vaccination site at Salem State University on Wednesday had to be postponed when officials could not guarantee that the shots would arrive in time for that day. The 200 available spots then filled up quickly when registration was launched for Friday appointments on Wednesday.

The communities were tentatively planning to try again on Friday if they receive the shipments.

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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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