COVID-19 vaccine will be available at-home for homebound patients

Good news for homebound individuals who are unable to get to a COVID-19 vaccination clinic — the vaccine will come to you.

Starting on March 29, the state is launching a homebound vaccination program to provide in-home vaccinations. In-home vaccinations will be available to homebound individuals who:

• Have considerable difficulty and/or require significant support to leave the home for medical appointments
• Require an ambulance or two-person assistance to leave the home
• Are not able to leave home for medical appointments under normal circumstances.

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Thursday that 168 local Boards of Health (representing about 40 percent of Massachusetts’ population) will conduct a homebound vaccination program for their community residents, while homebound residents of 183 municipalities (representing 60 percent of the state’s population) will receive vaccines through the statewide service through Commonwealth Care Alliance.

Health care providers, Aging Services Access Points (ASAP), Local Boards of Health, Councils on Aging (COAs) and other community organizations will be connecting individuals to the homebound program. 

In addition, homebound individuals and their loved ones can call 1-833-983-0485 to schedule an appointment and determine if they meet eligibility for in-home vaccination. The registration phone line is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and has representatives who speak English and Spanish, as well as translation services available in 100+ languages.

“CCA is honored to lead this critical mission of vaccinating homebound citizens of Massachusetts,” said Christopher D. Palmieri, President and Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Care Alliance. “Since our inception, CCA’s approach to care has been rooted in the community to ensure the most appropriate site of care for the individuals we so proudly serve. Over the past few weeks, we have successfully vaccinated hundreds of our own homebound health plan members, and our team is ready to expand this effort across the state and aid the Commonwealth’s vaccination effort in any way we can.”

As of Thursday, Grafton has had 1,065 confirmed cases of Covid and has not experienced the wave of new cases seen in other parts of the state.

This week, the state received a modest increase in supply of first doses, for a total of 172,000. This includes 7,900 doses of J&J vaccine.

In total, the Commonwealth received 330,000 first and second doses as part of the state allocation. These figures do not include doses provided directly from the federal government to the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program or to Federally Qualified Health Centers.

This week, first doses and second dose state allocations (total doses), were distributed among providers as follows:

• Health systems and health care providers (excluding community health centers): 115,120
• Mass vaccination locations: 109,750
• Regional Collaboratives and Local Boards of Health: 55,850
• Community Health Centers: 28,820
• Retail pharmacies (non-CVS) state allocation: 10,350
• Mobile Clinics supporting long-term care facilities, congregate care, affordable/low-income senior housing and homebound individuals: 9,800

Weekly allocations are subject to change based on federal availability, demand from providers, and obligations to meet second doses. Providers have 10 days to use their doses and must meet specific performance thresholds.

The Administration has also been informed that the federal government will send a one-time allocation of 40,800 doses of J&J vaccine to the Commonwealth next week as well as a one-time allocation of 20,000 Pfizer first doses.