Elder Services Organizations Assisting Seniors With Accessing Vaccinations During Troubled Rollout

State leaders are urging patience among people 75 and older who are trying to sign up for coronavirus vaccinations, saying appointments are limited and based on the number of vaccine doses Massachusetts is getting from the federal government.

But the rollout of the state website where people have to go to make those appointments, which went online Wednesday, has been confusing and messy.

Thursday the state announced 35,000 more appointments were added at mass vaccination sites in Boston, Danvers, Worcester and Springfield.

But there are about 1 million people aged 75 and older in Massachusetts, according to state officials, and many are still scrambling to secure appointments. One organization that is assisting them — working through issues including equity for non-English speakers trying to access the vaccines — is Ethos, an elder services organization based in Jamaica Plain.

The CEO of Ethos, Valerie Frias, spoke with WBUR's Jack Lepiarz.