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COVID-19 vaccinations for health care workers

COVID-19 vaccine eligibility details and information for health care workers under Phase 1 of the MA COVID-19 vaccine distribution timeline.

All health care workers including COVID-facing health care workers, home-based health care workers, and non-COVID-facing health care workers are now eligible to receive the vaccine.

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Eligibility

All clinical and non-clinical health care workers are currently eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This includes health care workers providing care in the home. 

Examples of eligible health care workers included in Phase 1

Clinical and non-clinical health care workers doing direct and COVID-facing care, including:

  • COVID-19 testers, staff of test sites, urgent care centers, other clinics,school nurses, and public health nurses performing COVID-19 testing; 
  • COVID-19 vaccinators and support staff for a COVID vaccination clinic including pharmacists, pharmacy interns, pharmacy technicians, school nurses, and public health nurses supporting COVID-19 vaccination; 
  • Medical Reserve Corps who are called up to vaccinate or other COVID facing direct care work; 
  • COVID facing Hospice/palliative care professionals; 
  • COVID facing laboratorians; 
  • COVID facing imaging professions;
  • Emergent employees (manufacturing COVID vaccine)
  • Sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE)
  • Primary care providers
  • Skilled nursing facility rapid response teams
  • Visiting and contract nurses

Home-based health care workers, including:

  • PT/OT/SLP therapists who work with medically complex home students
  • Personal Care Attendants (PCAs)
  • Home Health, hospice, and home care agency staff performing visits in the home
  • Independent Nurses and Continuous Skilled Nursing staff performing visits in the home
  • Aging Service agency staff performing regular visits in the home
  • State Agency staff performing direct care in the home, including DCF Emergency Response Workers, DMH case managers and DDS care coordinators
  • Mental and behavioral health providers providing in home treatment (e.g., ACCS integrated team, PACT, CBHI, ABA, ESP)
  • Adult Foster Care and Group Adult Foster Care workers performing work in the home
  • Independent Therapists (physical therapists, occupational therapists, Speech & Language therapists) performing work in the home
  • Home-Based Respite and Individual/Family Support staff (DDS and DDS Self Directed)
  • Including:

Health care workers doing non-COVID-facing care, including:

  • Dentists/dental students, and dental hygienists (unless routinely working with COVID-19 positive or suspected patients such as Oral Surgeons covering the ER, in which case should be considered COVID-facing);
  • Medical and nursing students (unless routinely working with COVID-19 positive or suspected patients, in which case should be considered COVID-facing);
  • Inpatient and outpatient physical therapists and physical therapist assistants (unless routinely working with COVID-19 positive or suspect patients, in which case should be considered COVID-facing);

  • Occupational therapists;

  • Certified athletic trainers;

  • Interpreters who work in health care settings (unless routinely working with COVID-19 positive or suspected patients, in which case should be considered COVID-facing); 
  • Behavioral health clinicians not already covered in congregate care or direct care; 
  • Non-COVID facing Laboratorians; 
  • Blood donation workers; 
  • Organ donation procurement worker; 
  • Hospice/palliative care professionals; 
  • Non-COVID facing Imaging Professionals;
  • Dialysis center workers and patients; 
  • Audiologists and speech and language pathologists (unless routinely working with COVID-19 positive or suspected patients, in which case should be considered COVID-facing);
  • Podiatrists and pedorthists (unless routinely working with COVID-19 positive or suspected patients, in which case should be considered COVID-facing);
  • Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) staff;
  • SUD treatment program staff (if program is non-residential);
  • Asthma and allergy specialists;
  • Diagnostic sleep testing center staff;
  • Chiropractors
  • School nurses (other than those working as vaccinators/testers)
  • Members of the clergy (if working in patient-facing roles)
  • Acupuncturists
  • Mental and behavioral health providers working in clinical and educational settings (e.g., ACCS integrated team, PACT, CBHI, ABA, ESP)

Vaccination locations

The Commonwealth is providing all health care workers – including home-based health care workers and non-COVID-facing health care workers – with several options for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

You can preregister for a mass vaccination location or find a location and schedule your appointment.

There are different ways to find a vaccine appointment:

  • Preregister at VaccineSignUp.mass.gov to be notified when it's your turn to schedule an appointment at one of 7 mass vaccination locations: Hynes Convention Center, Gillette Stadium, Reggie Lewis Center, DoubleTree Hotel in Danvers, Eastfield Mall in Springfield, Natick Mall and former Circuit City in Dartmouth.
  • Use VaxFinder.mass.gov to search for appointments at pharmacies, health care providers, and other community locations

Massachusetts’ preregistration system makes it easier to request and schedule an appointment at one of the 7 mass vaccination locations. People can preregister for a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at mass vaccination locations only. More locations will be added to the system in April.

Once you sign up for preregistration, you’ll receive weekly status updates. You can opt out at any time if you find an appointment elsewhere. Once an appointment is available, you’ll be contacted with the opportunity to book the appointment and have 24 hours to accept it.

Massachusetts receives a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses from the federal government each week. Due to high demand and very limited supply, it may take several weeks to schedule an appointment or to be notified that an appointment is available at mass vaccination locations. 

    Preregister for a mass vaccination location  Use VaxFinder to book at other locations  Learn more about preregistration 

    Additionally, health care worker employers may use the following options to access vaccine for their staff:

    1. Health care worker employers may register to vaccinate their staff and possibly others at their place of employment. Organizations that meet certain criteria and have the capacity to operate a vaccine clinic can enroll in the Massachusetts COVID-19 Vaccine Program (MCVP).
    2. COVID-facing health care workers or their employers may be eligible to receive the vaccine through an initiative whereby a hospital serving each region of the state acts as a “depot” for small physician practices. More information is in the information for small physician practices to access vaccine for their staff section below.

    Appointment documentation

    Learn how to prepare for your appointment and what you need to bring with you.

    You will never be asked for a credit card number to make an appointment.

    Information for small physician practices to access vaccine for their staff

    The Massachusetts COVID-19 Command Center and DPH, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) and Mass General Brigham are managing an initiative to facilitate access to COVID-19 vaccine for independent COVID-facing physician practices prioritized under Phase 1, starting with COVID-facing health care workers.  

    Under this initiative, hospitals serving each region of the state have been identified to act as a “depot” to assist the Commonwealth with its vaccination and/or distribution efforts. For clinical practices that are unable, due to their size and capacity, to receive larger, direct allocations of vaccine, a depot will redistribute vaccine and all ancillary materials for office-based vaccination and in some cases will provide direct vaccination to health care workers.

    To be a part of the program that offers office-based vaccination, a practice must:

    Updates for home-based health care workers

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