Peabody Denied Additional Coronavirus Vaccine Doses: Mayor

PEABODY, MA — The Peabody Health Department will not be able to administer any new first doses of the coronavirus vaccine this week after Mayor Ted Bettencourt said the state denied the city's request for additional doses.

Bettencourt said he was "extremely disappointed" in the decision and that the 100 doses the city received will all go toward fulfilling already-scheduled appointments for second doses.

"This is frustrating because Peabody has such a great vaccine team in place at the Torigian Senior Center," Bettencourt said in a social media post. "We have the infrastructure, resources, knowledge and experience to do more. Administrating this life-saving vaccine as quickly as possible is our top priority."

Bettencourt said the city last week vaccinated 522 residents eligible in Phase One and the start of Phase Two of the state's vaccination rollout.

This is the second time in recent weeks Bettencourt has criticized the state for shutting municipalities out of the vaccination process. The Peabody City Council voted unanimously to back Bettencourt's efforts to urge the state to allow local health departments more doses to vaccinate their own residents.

Gov. Charlie Baker said following a tour of the mass vaccination site at the Danvers DoubleTree Hotel last week that those larger sites, as well as a network of pharmacies and grocery stores, will be the primary source of distribution as vaccine supplies remain limited.

He said Saturday that the state is receiving about 105,000 doses of vaccine per week, but has the capacity to distribute up to 240,000 if supplies allow.

Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Salem and Swampscott have combined on regional sites open to residents of those five communities, including one at Salem State University and two "pop-up sites" at the Beverly Council on Aging and Danvers Council on Aging this week.

"I will continue to ask the state for more vaccine so that Peabody can play a larger role in this crucial effort," Bettencourt said.

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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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