BOSTON (WHDH) - Only 43 percent of the coronavirus vaccines shipped to Massachusetts have been administered, public health data released on Thursday shows.
As of Jan. 7, there have been a total of 328,000 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines sent to the Bay State, but only 141,108 doses have been administered.
A total of 139,895 first doses have been administered, while health care officials have issued 1,213 second doses.
Each person who chooses to be vaccinated must get two doses, each of which are given three weeks apart.
Data shows that 49,184 total doses were administered across the state in the last seven days.
Frontline health care workers and long-term care facility residents have already started to get vaccinations. Vaccines will be made available to first responders starting on Monday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci — the nation’s top infectious disease expert — believes the initial vaccine rollout has been slow because it came right around the holidays.
Several doses of the Moderna vaccine had to be thrown out after they recently spoiled at a Brockton health center.
Brockton Neighborhood Health Center CEO Sue Joss said the doses had to be thrown away after some people failed to show up to receive their vaccine on Christmas Eve.
She said the Moderna vaccine comes in vials with 10 doses inside and are only viable for the first six hours after they are thawed.
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