Residents can now search for coronavirus vaccination sites by zip code as the state looks for ways to improve its registration system after technical issues that plagued seniors’ registrations.
The state added the zip code search feature to the vaccine site search web page on Sunday.
Residents can now enter their zip code to find massive vaccination sites, pharmacies and supermarkets, and local vaccination clinics within a 3 to 50 mile radius. The map showing those locations using color-coded stars is still available.
The search update comes as the state prepares to begin vaccinating residents 75 and older on Monday.
And it follows a cacophony of calls from attorneys and lawmakers to make the online registration process easier after technical glitches and clunky websites have created confusion and fear among many rushing to register themselves and their loved ones when slots first appeared last Wednesday. were opened.
“It’s a debacle,” Senator Eric Lesser told the Herald earlier this week. “If we had to get massive vaccinations, we would have massive confusion instead.”
Lesser, D-Longmeadow, filed emergency legislation that would create a centralized online registration system instead of relying on third-party websites to book, and launch a telephone hotline to help those who do not have Internet access register for the recordings .
The bill was soon co-sponsored by 57 lawmakers, including Senator Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, who led a letter with dozens of her colleagues urging Governor Charlie Baker to start a 1-800 hotline.
Baker said on Thursday that the state would open a call center next week. But the administration has so far failed to convert its online registration system to a centralized format.
In the meantime, municipalities are starting to launch their own call centers to help residents register for shots and connect those who are not yet eligible with information to help them down the line.
Lawrence officials on Sunday announced plans to open a call center on Monday, saying in a press release, “The call center is integral to helping our elderly population with the technological barriers facing most of the elderly in our community.”