BOSTON (CBS) – More healthcare workers in Massachusetts can now get the coronavirus vaccine. Governor Charlie Baker announced Thursday that all groups in Phase 1 of the state vaccination schedule are immediately eligible for the shot.
“Today we are moving forward with the process of including all groups in Phase 1 of the state vaccination plan, including home carers and uncovidated health workers,” he said. “These groups are now eligible to receive vaccines.”
The state has already begun vaccinating coronavirus health care workers, first responders, and community care workers such as prisons and emergency shelters.
Those eligible can schedule appointments at over 150 locations across the state, including the first mass vaccination center in Gillette Stadium.
Those who do not come into contact with patients, such as back office workers, remote workers, and laboratory researchers, are not part of Phase 1, the state said, and should wait until they are eligible for Phase 2 or 3.
Here is a full list by the state of the new groups now eligible for the vaccine. visit mass.gov/covidvaccine to learn more.
- Home health workers
Including:- PT / OT / SLP therapists who work with medically complex home students
- Personal Care Attendants (PCAs)
- Home Health, Hospice, and Home Care Agency workers conducting home visits
- Independent nurses and continuously qualified nursing staff who conduct home visits
- Aging Service Agency employees make regular home visits
- Government agency personnel providing direct home care including DCF emergency responders, DMH case managers, and DDS care coordinators
- Mental and behavioral health providers offering home treatments (e.g. integrated ACCS team, PACT, CBHI, ABA, ESP)
- Adult Foster Care and Group Adult Foster Care employees who work at home
- Independent therapists (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists) who work from home
- Home-Based Respite and Individual / Family Support employees (DDS and DDS Self Directed)
- Healthcare workers who are not COVID compliantincluding:
- Dentists / dental students and dental hygienists (unless they are routinely working with COVID-19 positive or suspicious patients such as oral surgeons who cover the emergency room, in which case this should be considered COVID-faced).
- Medical and nursing students (unless they work routinely with COVID-19 positive or suspect patients, in which case this should be considered COVID-faced).
- Inpatient and outpatient physical therapists (unless they work routinely with COVID-19 positive or suspect patients, in which case this should be considered COVID-faced).
- Interpreters who work in hospitals (unless they work routinely with COVID-19 positive or suspicious patients, in which case this should be considered COVID-faced).
- Behavioral clinicians not yet treated in community or direct care;
- Non-COVID to laboratory technicians;
- Blood donors;
- Organ donation procurement workers;
- Specialists in hospice / palliative medicine;
- Non-COVID-Enabled Imaging Experts;
- Dialysis Center staff and patients;
- Audiologists and speech and language pathologists (unless they work routinely with COVID-19 positive or suspect patients, in which case this should be considered COVID-faced).
- Podiatrists and podiatrists (unless they work routinely with COVID-19 positive or suspicious patients, in which case this should be considered COVID-faced).
- All Inclusive Care for the Elderly Program (PACE);
- SUD treatment program staff (when the program is away from home);
- Asthma and allergy specialists;
- Diagnostic Sleep Test Center staff;
- chiropractor
- School nurses (other than those who work as vaccines / testers)
- Members of the clergy (if working in patient-centered roles)
- Acupuncturists
