Marking a major expansion in vaccine availability on the Island, Martha’s Vineyard is set to receive a shipment of more than 4,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses from the federal government in the upcoming week through a new partnership with Island Health Care.

The 4,040 new doses, which IHC executive director Cynthia Mitchell confirmed were ordered from the federal government on Wednesday, were made possible by a new cross-Island partnership between IHC, a federally qualified community health center, and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, with guidance from the Island boards of health.

The doses will likely arrive early next week, Ms. Mitchell said, and will be administered by the hospital at its vaccination site through a memorandum of understanding with IHC.

Island vaccine supply has faced significant bottlenecks over the past month, with the state vaccine allocation hovering around 1,300 weekly doses even as eligibility has expanded to all residents age 16 and older. In past weeks, most doses have gone to high priority individuals receiving their second vaccine shots, forcing some eligible Islanders to look to the mainland for vaccine appointments. Cape and Islands state legislators pressed Gov. Charlie Baker for more supply in a letter late last week.

The new doses provided by the federal government will open the floodgates on the limited Island vaccination process, officials said. Reached by phone Wednesday, Ms. Mitchell expressed excitement about the order.

“Anyone who wants a vaccine, and is eligible, is going to be able to get it,” she said. “Supply is not going to be an issue.”

The vaccines are being made available as part of a Biden administration program that supplies federally qualified community health centers across the country with vaccine supplies. Island Health Care is the only federally qualified community health center on the Vineyard. There are about 1,500 such centers nationwide.

When the federal government began the program in March, only a handful of federally qualified health centers — generally in urban areas where health equity is an issue — were invited to join. But the program opened to all federal health centers on April 6, making IHC eligible, right after the hospital’s state vaccine supply for first-dose appointments had plummeted.

“The timing was good,” Ms. Mitchell said.

She said IHC quickly registered for the program, with Island health agents Maura Valley and Matt Poole involved in the process. Ms. Mitchell placed the first order for doses on Wednesday, which she said would be part of a weekly supply cycle, if needed.

The hospital will administer the doses through a memorandum of understanding with IHC, and continue to receive its weekly state-allocated supply of approximately 1,300 vaccines in addition to the 4,040 from the federal government.

At a hospital press briefing earlier Wednesday morning, chief executive officer Denise Schepici and head of operations Claire Seguin said the hospital has the capacity to vaccinate 1,000 patients per day at its clinic. The clinic includes an outdoor vaccination tent.

“The infrastructure of storing, delivering — we have capacity, we just need the vaccine,” Ms. Schepici said at the briefing. “So, we’re ready to deliver if they can get the vials.”

Hospital spokesman Marissa Lefebvre said in an email later that the vaccine appointment signup process will remain the same. “We are well prepared to expand capacity to accommodate an increase of appointments. When the doses arrive, those appointments will become available during the next sign-up time,” she said, adding: “We also have plenty of freezer space to store the vaccines.”

Vaccine appointments can be made online at mvhospital.org on Saturday mornings and Monday afternoons.

Ms. Mitchell said the hospital, boards of health and IHC settled on the number 4,040 by estimating the hospital’s maximum capacity and the knowledge that a portion of eligible Islanders have already received vaccines off-Island.

According to the state Department of Public Health, about 52 per cent of Dukes County residents have received a first-dose vaccination shot, and 38 per cent have received a second-dose shot.

The hospital reported as of Wednesday that it had administered 15,508 shots, including 9,039 first doses and 6,508 second doses. The 2019 census estimates the Island population at just over 17,000.

At the briefing, hospital officials said their goal was to have the entire Island vaccinated by Memorial Day, before the unofficial start of summer. The new federal program could make that feasible.

“We are fairly confident that we can arrange to have the supply that the community needs at this point,” Ms. Mitchell said. “It’s fantastic.”