Published February 18, 2021

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — Online registration for COVID-19 vaccination appointments for the town’s senior citizens ages 75 and older will open on Monday, Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. for the Tuesday, Feb. 23 and Thursday, Feb. 25 clinics. The link for those clinics will go live on the town website (www.northreadingma.gov) at that time.

All of the Health Department’s clinics will be held in the ballroom of the Hillview Country Club, 149 North St., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

At press time Wednesday there were some openings remaining for today’s clinic (Thursday, Feb. 18). To register for this clinic only, visit https://tinyurl.com/NR-Vaccine-Reg and access the link via PrepMod.

The Board of Health will be prepared to offer as many doses as the state will make available to it. Presently, that has been 100 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine per week for the month of February. Due to this limitation, the town’s clinics will strictly adhere to the Phase II Priority Group age and occupation restrictions.

“At this time, due to an extremely limited supply of the COVID-19 vaccine, the North Reading Health Department will be unable to provide caregivers of adults 75 and older a COVID-19 vaccine appointment,” the website notes. The caregiver option is available at some of the statewide mass vaccination sites as an option to help get senior citizens and those close to them vaccinated.

While the in-town senior citizen van has not been operating during the pandemic, those seniors who need transportation to and from their scheduled vaccination appointment can arrange a ride by calling Mystic Valley Elder Services at 781-324-7705.

Registration for the clinics, whether in-town or at a state site, must be done online and it does take time so patience is requested by those who need to call the Senior Center at 978-664-5600 for this assistance.

The town is also requesting family members, friends and neighbors to check in on residents ages 75 and older to offer them assistance with the registration process. The state has also set up a 2-1-1 call center to assist senior citizens when registering for other vaccination sites throughout the state.

All registration for COVID-19 vaccination clinics will be via PrepMod, a MassDPH vaccination clinic registration module.

Due to the limited supply of vaccines being made available to North Reading, the Health Department strongly encourages residents to register for an appointment at another clinic in Massachusetts if appointments at the Hillview clinic are unavailable.

Registration for clinics statewide may be found at www.maimmunizations.org.

The state has set up a hotline to assist adults 75 and older to make vaccination appointments at State locations. Adults 75 and older who need assistance can dial 211 from Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. State locations includes: Danvers at Double Tree Hilton Hotel, Boston at Reggie Lewis Center or Fenway Park and Foxborough at Gillette Stadium.

The Board of Health offers the following tips when registering and when arriving to your appointment:

• Open the registration link in a browser other than Internet Explorer, PrepMod does not work in Explorer. Open in Chrome, Edge or Firefox.

• Have a copy of the front and back of your insurance card saved to your computer, or if you are using a device with a camera, you can take the pictures as you register. Your insurance will be billed at no cost to you.

• You do not need to be insured to receive the vaccine.

• A confirmation email comes from a no-reply address. Be sure to check your spam folder

Preparing for the day of your appointment:

• Ensure that you have a scheduled appointment.

• Arrive no earlier than five minutes before your scheduled appointment.

• Bring an ID with your name, if you have one, to verify your name in the vaccination system.

• Facial covering required when entering the clinic for your appointment.

• Ensure proper social distancing requirements.

• Please make sure you allow enough time to be monitored for 15 to 30 minutes after your vaccination.

The Healthy Hornet

The Board of Health has set up a new Facebook page called The Healthy Hornet (@healthyhornet) for the dissemination of information from the North Reading Board of Health.

The page is not routinely monitored for comments. It will include useful information and additional links for resources on COVID and other topics of interest.

Information is also posted at the Health Department’s website at: https://www.northreadingma.gov/health-department.