Charlie Baker gets his COVID booster, talks omicron variant

Gov. Charlie Baker is rolling up his sleeve, both literally and figuratively: to get his own COVID-19 booster shot and to increase appointment availability for Bay Staters to do the same as the omicron variant takes hold in the U.S.

“As the weather gets colder, and as people continue to spend more time indoors, we know we’ll continue to see more cases of COVID in Massachusetts,” Baker said. “The science on this one is clear: that vaccines do help keep people from getting very sick from this virus, and the boosters provide an extra layer of protection.”

Baker, who spoke at a state-run vaccination site in Brockton where he got his booster shot, estimated that COVID hospitalizations would drop by half if everyone got vaccinated. “The vaccines clearly make a difference,” he said.

He reminded residents that all adults 18 and over are eligible for booster shots if they’re six months out from their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two months out from the one-shot J&J vaccine. So far, over 1.5 million booster doses have been administered in the state.

The governor acknowledged that residents are having trouble booking appointments, sometimes needing to wait up to two weeks to find one due to the demand for boosters. Although he said supply is not an issue, he’s working with municipalities to increase the local availability of vaccine appointments.

Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito had a phone conversation with 110 communities Friday morning to discuss expanding vaccination sites, and Baker said he heard “a lot of very enthusiastic and positive feedback” from those municipal leaders on the idea.

He also faced several questions about the increase in COVID cases in Massachusetts, with COVID cases spiking to levels not seen since January and hospital beds filling up. Despite this, Baker remained adamant that he would not implement a mask mandate.

He instead blamed the hospital bed shortage on nationwide health care staffing shortages, which he said account for between a 500- and 1,000-bed loss in Massachusetts. He also attributed the shortage to the typical winter rise in hospitalizations due to flu season and the usual uptick in procedures around this time of year, when people have more downtime to recover.

“The biggest thing we can do to reduce our COVID hospitalization rate is for the people who aren’t vaccinated to get vaccinated,” Baker said.

Baker also wouldn’t say whether he would reinstate a statewide mask mandate if omicron takes root here.

“It’s very, very important for all of us to pay attention to what’s going on to find out what the research has to say, but not to jump to conclusions about it one way or the other,” he said. “There’s been too much of that, in my opinion, since the beginning.”