Braintree Town Hall opened up as a vaccination site Wednesday for residents 75 and older, a town official told the News Service.
Nicole Taub, chief of staff for Braintree Mayor Charles Kokoros, said the town will aim to make more than 90 of the 100 vaccine doses it received available to older adults. The remaining handful of doses will go to individuals who qualified in Phase 1.
Kokoros said the town has around 1,500 residents who gained eligibility because of their age when Phase 2 started on Monday.
“Folks are just so excited to begin the process of having freedom again. It has been a very positive experience for my staff members to set up these appointments for our residents,” Kokoros said in an interview. “We will continue to work to get more doses so we can vaccinate all of our Phase 2 residents.”
While the town hall has been used as COVID-19 vaccination site in the past — in January, officials vaccinated first responders and local health care workers — this is the first time the site has opened up to the public.
Taub said residents enter the town hall’s auditorium, which has several registration tables. Participants then head toward the end of the room where four public health and public school nurses administer the vaccine, and finally, head to an observation area where they are required to wait 15 minutes before leaving.
“It has been incredibly positive. I made a large number of the appointments for today and was met with such emotion from our residents,” Taub said. “They were so thankful for the opportunity to come to town hall, a local place they know and are familiar with.”
The town also placed some residents on a standby list and as more supply becomes available, residents will be called in to receive their shots.
Residents can register via a town-officiated website, over email, or over the phone, Kokoros said. For residents who are not “computer savvy,” Kokoros said the option to book an appointment over the phone makes the process as easy as possible.
“For us it was more about being proactive, it had nothing to do with (the state’s) system and any of those issues,” the mayor said, referencing concerns surrounding the state’s appointment booking process.
(Copyright (c) 2025 State House News Service.