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Vaccination Information

Vaccine information

QUICK LINKS - COVID-19 Vaccination Resources

The best vaccination appointment websites for Massachusetts Residents 

Vaccination Information Updates:

UPDATE - March 25th - Massachusetts Homebound Vaccination Program

UPDATE - March 22nd - Vaccine Eligibility: Find details here

Vaccine Eligibility

UPDATE March 17 - Eligibility Timelines: Find details posted here 

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-covid-19-vaccination-phases#phase-2-

Update March 15, 2021: Town of Franklin Vaccination Clinics: Status Updates

In January and February, 400 first responders from Franklin, Medway, Millis, Milford, and Bellingham were vaccinated at Franklin High School. Clinics for each dose were held over a two-day period, totaling 4 days of first responder clinics. 

Governor Baker allowed housing authority residents to receive the vaccine in Phase 2. The Franklin Board of Health ordered vaccines for this specific population in February.  In the second week of March, the Town received 200 1st doses to distribute to the following:  

  • Housing Authority residents in Franklin and Norfolk.
  • Seniors over 75 in Franklin (residents over 85 were prioritized, from oldest to youngest), homebound and isolated individuals, and veterans. 

The second round of shots to these individuals will occur in approximately four weeks.  

The Franklin Board of Health and Franklin Senior Center collectively called over 1,000 elder individuals to check their vaccination status directly.  Staff combed through street listings, contacted residents on the Senior Center directory, and returned all phone call inquiries to the Center.  Our staff asked residents if they had either:

  • Already received either one or both doses of vaccine
  • Have plans to receive a vaccine or 
  • Would like assistance in scheduling a vaccination appointment. 

Our staff was pleased to find out that most of the people in this demographic had already had or had plans to receive the vaccine, the majority utilizing the site at Gillette Stadium and the caregiver provision allowing those over 75 to be accompanied by someone younger to incentivize them getting shots. 

This will likely conclude all local clinics to be held in the Town of Franklin. We do not anticipate receiving any additional first doses to distribute to our community. President Biden has committed to having all Americans over the age of 18 have availability to obtain a vaccine as of May 1, 2021. The current state appointment systems will remain in place.

Update March 10, 2021: Pre-registration System to Launch on Friday, March 12th: 

  • Partnering with the Google Cloud Team, the Administration will launch a preregistration system for mass vaccination sites only starting Friday, March 12. This tool will be available at mass.gov/COVIDvaccine.
  • Preregistration will allow eligible residents to book an appointment at one of the state’s 7 mass vaccination sites.

Details on the Preregistration Process:

  • Eligible residents will complete the online form at mass.gov/COVIDVaccine to request to book an appointment at a mass vaccination site nearby.
  • After completing the form, residents will get a confirmation via their preferred method of contact (text, e-mail, phone) and receive a weekly update about their status. Residents may opt-out of their preregistration at any time if they secure an appointment elsewhere.
  • When an appointment becomes available at a mass vaccination site, the resident will be notified and will have 24 hours to accept the appointment once it is offered to them. If an appointment is not accepted after 24 hours, the resident will go back into the queue to wait for another appointment.
  • To accommodate older residents and others who are unable to use the form, the preregistration form allows family members, caregivers, or other companions to fill out the form on behalf of someone else. Residents who do not have internet access or someone to fill the form out for them can call 2-1-1 to preregister.

Educator Vaccination Dates: 

On March 11, pursuant to a federal directive, approximately 400,000 K-12 educators, childcare workers, and K-12 school staff are eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine in Massachusetts. K-12 educators, childcare workers, and K-12 school staff may receive vaccine from any of the 170 public vaccine sites available on mass.gov/COVIDvaccine. In an effort to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s directive for states to prioritize teacher vaccinations, the Administration will designate 4 days where the state’s 7 mass vaccination sites will only offer 1st dose appointments for K-12 educators, child care workers, and K-12 school staff. These dates are:

  • Saturday, March 27
  • Saturday, April 3 
  • Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11

Workers in this group must use the pre-registration system to request an appointment at one of the seven mass vaccination sites and attest they are a K-12 educator, childcare worker, or K-12 school staff. All other vaccine providers (including Regional Collaboratives) are encouraged, but not required, to restrict their appointments to K-12 educators, child care workers, and K-12 school staff on Saturday, March 27, Saturday, April 3, Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11, for consistency. Providers may designate alternative dates, in lieu of the 4 dates designated by the State, if necessary.

UPDATE March 9: Travel for Fully Vaccinated Individuals 

  • Individuals who have received two doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines OR who have received a single dose of the Janssen vaccine, more than 14 days ago and who do not have symptoms, do not need to obtain a negative test prior to traveling to, or quarantine upon arrival to, Massachusetts.  COVID-19 vaccinated individuals arriving in Massachusetts must have documentation of their vaccination(s), including the date(s) of administration, available if asked. This exception does not include vaccinated  individuals who have symptoms of COVID-19, who must follow all testing and quarantine guidance outlined in the travel rules  

Updated March 3: The State of Massachusetts will be opening up vaccine eligibility to

Feb 18: The State of Massachusetts has vaccine doses available for eligible individuals. Please visit their website for information and find an interactive map HERE. The Commonwealth is currently vaccinating eligible residents in Phase I and specific groups in Phase II including:

Beginning on February 18, 2021, these additional groups will be eligible:

For residents of Franklin, the closest available site to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination for eligible populations is at Gillette Stadium. The clinic at Gillette is open Monday - Friday (although we have found some have appointments over the weekend).

Gillette Stadium
1 Patriot Place, Parking Lot 22
Foxborough, MA 02035
(888) 623-3830

 

BOOK AN APPOINTMENT HERE
 You need to provide proof of eligibility to receive the vaccine.The Massachusetts Vaccine Scheduling Resource Line is available in English and Spanish and will have translators available to support residents in approximately 100 additional languages. Individuals ages 75 and older will be able to speak to a representative live on the phone to assist them with an appointment through the state’s online system. 
Call 2-1-1 and follow prompts to reach
The Massachusetts Vaccine Scheduling Resource Line
Hours of Operations:
Monday to Friday
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
 

These representatives have the same access to appointments as on the public website; it will not give individuals access to additional appointments.

If no appointments are available, callers will have the option to be placed on a call back list for the mass vaccination sites. The caller will receive a call back when an appointment becomes available for them at a mass vaccination site, and the list will be called on a first-come, first-served basis. The Massachusetts Vaccine Scheduling Resource Line is currently only for individuals ages 75 and older who cannot use or have difficulty accessing the internet and therefore are unable to schedule an appointment through the online platforms. The Massachusetts Vaccine Scheduling Resource Line is only able to support individuals with scheduling an appointment and representatives are not able to answer general questions about COVID-19 or provide individual health care advice.

The quickest and easiest way to schedule a vaccine appointment or check availability is to use the online system at https://vaxfinder.mass.gov/

Other options for Vaccination Registration:

UPDATE 2/10/2021 

On vaccines: as of Monday night, 910,412 doses have been administered to residents and over 1.2 million have been shipped to the Commonwealth. We are picking up the pace and are on track to have over one million people vaccinated soon. Over 70% of total doses shipped to Massachusetts have been reported into the state’s database as administered.

Vaccine Capacity Update / New Sites Announcement:

  • We’re continuing to add appointments at vaccination sites statewide. Tomorrow at 8:30AM: 53,000 new appointments at mass vaccination sites will be posted online at mass vaccination sites at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, Gillette Stadium, and Fenway Park.
  • Over the course of this week, over 50,000 pharmacy appointments will be added on a regular/daily basis and another 14,000 appointments will be added at 35 community health centers across the state. Other provider sites, like health care providers and local vaccine clinics, are adding almost 40,000 appointments over the course of this week.
  • All appointments can be scheduled online by visiting Mass.Gov/COVIDVaccine. Or, residents 75 and older can call 2-1-1 to get help booking an appointment if they’re unable to use the website.
  • Massachusetts is continuing to add capacity through mass vaccination sites—which are high output locations where vaccines can be administered quickly and efficiently. Two new mass vaccination sites will open later this month: one in Natick at the Natick Mall on February 22, and the other in Dartmouth at Circuit City, on February 24th.
  • Both sites will be open to all eligible residents and will start with about 500 doses a day, scaling up at the Dartmouth site to about 2,000 doses per day, and the Natick site will scale up to about 3,000 doses.
  • Appointments for both new sites will be available to book on Mass.Gov beginning next Thursday, February 18.

75+ Caregiver Eligibility - Find an informational flyer here

**The Town of Franklin is encouraging residents to review the 75+ Caregivers Vaccine options to see if they qualify**

  • On February 1st we started vaccines for residents 75 and older. These residents have been getting shots for the last 10 days, and during that time we have learned that some people might be hesitant to go to a mass vaccination location without a relative or a caregiver. This policy goes into effect on Thursday, February 11th. It is not applicable for appointments that have already been booked.
  • To support more 75 and older residents getting to a mass vax site, we are announcing a new policy to allow one caregiver to join a 75-plus resident and also schedule their own appointment for a vaccine at the same time. Any caregiver is eligible to receive the vaccine at the same time as the 75 and older resident, provided they have an appointment.
  • While this policy change applies specifically to the mass vaccination locations, LBOH-run clinics may choose to also allow for this. Information about eligibility will need to be changed by the LBOH in the clinic descriptions and information should be shared with your COAs and others for consistent messaging.
  • Caregivers will be required to self-attest that they are accompanying a 75-plus resident who could not otherwise get to or navigate the vaccination site when they fill out the attestation form (including the attestation form in PrepMod).
  • Appointments for 75-plus residents and their caregivers should be scheduled for the same day, as close together as possible
  • If both the caregiver and 75-plus resident are unable to use or have difficultly accessing the internet, they may call 2-1-1 for assistance booking both appointments.
  • We hope this change will encourage more 75 and older residents to get their vaccines at mass vaccination sites—which have the most availability and are best suited to provide safe access for our older residents.

Find a Vaccine Development Informational Video here

UPDATE 2/4/2021

The Franklin Health Department has ordered 100 doses to hold a clinic at the Franklin Senior Center. The Health Department is waiting to find out if the order will be fulfilled and is expecting to be notified on Friday, February 5, 2021. These doses will be available to residents who are 75 + and distribution will be coordinated by the Franklin Board of Health, Franklin Senior Center, and Franklin Fire Department.  We hope to have more information next week when the town has a timeframe on when the vaccine may arrive. Priority will be given to residents who are 90+ years of age.  The Health Department has created a form for eligible residents 75+ to sign up for vaccine clinics.  Residents can also contact the Senior Center directly at 508-520-4946 to have their name added to the list. 

Find the Town of Franklin Vaccine Sign Up Form Here

The Health Department has also ordered 110 doses for the Housing Authority.  The doses ordered for the Housing Authority are for Housing Authority residents and staff only. We do not yet know if the order will be fulfilled and do not yet have a timeframe.

The Senior Center has already received well more than 100 inquiries for vaccines from qualifying Phase II individuals. If you wish to contact the staff at the Senior Center to show your interest in receiving a vaccine when one is available, the Senior Center staff are very willing to accept your information. The Center is open during regular business hours M-F.  However, please note that the Board of Health estimates an additional 2-3 weeks before the Town will know of any future deliveries. 

If the Board of Health obtains more doses of the vaccine going forward, we will continue to offer clinics.  Residents who are eligible in Phase 1 or 2 are encouraged to still seek out vaccination appointments at Gillette Stadium or other sites. Staff are advising residents to contact a Primary Care Physician (PCP), the federal Veteran's Affairs (VA) agency for veterans, or other medical facilities of their choice as there may be doses available at other sites outside the list on mass.gov. 

The Franklin Board of Health will be hiring an additional staff member to assist the community with appointment scheduling, answering questions, and filling out forms.  This full-time staff member will be assisting the community throughout the entire vaccine rollout.

If you need help scheduling a vaccine appointment please contact the Franklin Senior Center for assistance at (508) 520-4945 or contact the Franklin Health Department at (508) 520-4905.

We recognize that this process is stressful for our community.  Please know that we are doing everything that we can to obtain vaccine doses and provide reliable information. The COVID-19 vaccine is in high demand and supply is an issue right now.  But rest assured, the Town staff have a delivery system ready and waiting for when we receive vaccine doses. In the meantime, please be patient and the Town will continue to update this page as information becomes available. 

The Town of Franklin hosted two vaccination clinics for first responders in the Towns of Franklin, Millis, Medway, Milford, and Bellingham during Phase I of distribution.  These clinics were held at the Franklin High School gym on January 13th and 20th.  Franklin Paramedics administered 200 +/- doses each day to local first responders.  This group will receive their second dose on February 10th and 17th in the Franklin High School gymnasium.  There will not be any extra doses available and the public cannot enter. These are strictly regulated as part of Phase I. 

These vaccination clinics have served as excellent trial runs for future vaccination clinics for the general public in Phase 2 and Phase 3. The Town of Franklin is ready to administer 300+ doses per day on Wednesday's at FHS, at a minimum. Franklin High School gym is an officially approved vaccination site, however, the Town DOES NOT have any doses available at the current time for anyone in Franklin, nor does the Town have any doses stored on any municipal property.  When supply becomes available and as the Phases progress, we hope to host clinics at this site and are actively working to develop a series of pop-up sites in Town, in order to be prepared if needed. The Town of Franklin is ready when the doses get here. 

The Town of Franklin's Vaccination Committee includes the following staff members:

  • Jamie Hellen - Town Administrator
  • Cathleen Liberty - Health Director
  • Jim McLaughlin - Fire Chief
  • Erin Rogers - Senior Center Director
  • Joseph Barbieri  - Deputy Fire Chief
  • William Blanchard - EMS Captain
  • Anne Marie Tracey - Marketing & Communications Specialist