How to register for COVID vaccine in Massachusetts: how to find availability and which vaccine is available at which location.

How to sign up for COVID Vaccine shot in Massachusetts

 

I have helped several of my elderly neighbors to get through the maze of registering for the COVID vaccine.   This post shares how to use several websites to find available appointments in all Massachusetts locations and which vaccine is available at which location.  

The official Massachusetts website for vaccination is not a centralized website with information about all vaccine sites available in Massachusetts. It only handles Mass vaccination locations. These official locations are located close to Boston and maybe less convenient for people who live in other parts of the state.  While it is worth pre-registering on the official Mass.gov site as a backup plan, several other options might be more convenient. 

In addition to the official Mass vaccination, vaccines are available at selected Walgreens, CVS, Osco, and special locations such as former Wang Towers and a few others.  There are many websites, and they all change frequently. 

Fortunately, a website https://www.macovidvaccines.com/ crawls all websites and generates a list of all locations with available appointments. However, this website does not include information on what specific vaccine is given at which location. To find vaccine type information, you need to use another website https://vaccinefinder.org/search/. This website appears to be less up-to-date regarding availability, so I found that combining these two websites provided me the best information. 

Here is the process I have used to help those who are eligible (Note: you need to meet eligibility requirements for the vaccine or you will be rejected in step 5)

1. Go to CVS and Walgreen websites and look up their location. They both have a huge number of locations all over the state. Using their websites, create a list of all acceptable to you locations in terms of driving distances. Lookup and write down zip codes for these towns. Note that if you are a Mass resident who lives near New Hampshire, you CANNOT use New Hampshire locations; they will reject you.

Create an account on CVS and Walgreen site if you don't already have one.  You need to be logged into your account when you are making your appointment.

I recommend that you do everything described in this step before you become eligible so you can do things quickly when you become eligible. When you become eligible proceed to steps 2 through 6.

2. Go to https://www.macovidvaccines.com/ and see which locations have the vaccine in stock. 

3. Go to https://vaccinefinder.org/search/ and enter the zip code of the locations you like from Step 2 and enter them as *YOUR* zip code. This search will bring up the location of your choice and will list which vaccines are currently in stock. This information will allow you to reject a location if it has the vaccine you don't want. 

4. Go back to https://www.macovidvaccines.com/ and pick the link for the location that has the vaccine you want. The link will take you to the specific website to make an appointment (CVS, Wallgreens, etc.).   

5. To register, you need to meet eligibility requirements. Neither Wallgreens nor CVS websites tell you which vaccine you are getting, although you will get a hint if it is J&J vaccine because you will only need to book one appointment, not two. If you are asked to book two appointments, then you are getting either Moderna or Pfizer. 

6. When you are registering for an appointment, you need to work quickly. Your appointment is not locked in until you select two dates and two times. Sometimes when you are done, it will tell you that the appointment is no longer available. You need to go back and select a different time slot. Fortunately, it remembers all other information, and the second time around, you can be faster. 

You will see all information you need on the confirmation screen (you are assigned a number, and you need to bring this printout to your appointment). I suggest you print this confirmation page for your records.  You will also get a confirmation email. Email is not instant and might take 12-24 hours to arrive.