Reports of excess doses brings lines to vaccination site

Long lines formed and confusion spread at a mass coronavirus vaccination site in Massachusetts when news spread that there were extra doses available to people who had not made appointments.

Curative, the company operating the site at a Danvers hotel, didn't want the additional doses to go to waste, so workers told patients who were already registered with appointments later in the week to come to the location Wednesday to receive their vaccination, Miranda Gottlieb, a spokesperson for Curative said in an email to The Boston Globe.

But some people reported getting vaccinated even though they did not have an appointment and were not eligible under state guidelines. Massachusetts is currently vaccinating residents age 75 and older.

Jon Shumam, 46, told WBZ-TV that he rushed to the site near his home when he got a call from a friend and within an hour, got vaccinated.

A Massachusetts Department of Health official told WBZ that only those eligible and with an appointment should show up to vaccination sites.

The state this week issued guidance saying clinics with leftover doses should give them out rather than letting them go to waste, even if the recipient is outside the current eligibility rules.