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State Explores New Options To Make COVID Vaccines More Accessible

BOSTON (CBS) - The COVID vaccines are rolling off the manufacturing belts. The question now becomes how to get them into arms, almost seven million in Massachusetts.

There are plans in place and new ideas every day. On Thursday, Secretary of State Bill Galvin proposed polling sites to Gov. Charlie Baker. "We already relocated many of these polling places to larger premises last year because of COVID so now we have the opportunity to take a larger space and there often times is parking located near these locations, we've tested them out, they're handicapped accessible," Galvin said.

Gillette Stadium will become a mass vaccination site and maybe other large venues like the Marshfield Fairgrounds. Several years ago, during the Avian flu outbreak, state officials suggested many towns come up with a plan to inoculate their residents and they did.

In Duxbury, that plan is being rolled into action now. "You pick a site that's going to be robust, and handicapped accessible, that has infrastructure, backup generator, refrigeration, IT and then you build your plan around that," said Fire Chief Kevin Nord.

And there's much consideration being given to having dentists provide the shots. "The advantage is that the staffing is already there," said oral surgeon Dr. Bill Lane. "And all the protocols are set up for injections and any complications that might arise if that does occur while you're administering the injection, so you don't have to create any infrastructure, the infrastructure already exists."

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