Alabama administers more than 40,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine

Since the initial arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine in December, more than 20,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Alabama.

According to a release from the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), 42,810 doses of the vaccine had been administered as of Jan. 6. The majority of the vaccines administered thus far have been the initial Pfizer vaccine but Alabama has also begun receiving doses of the Moderna vaccine, as well.

So far, 28,269 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 14,541 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been administered in the state, and Alabama has received 226,250 total doses.

ADPH has stated that the state will be receiving additional doses weekly and those numbers will increase as new vaccines are released. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the only COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by the FDA currently.

Alabama is allocated the vaccine doses – both vaccines have to be administered in two doses – in phases. Phase 1 will see critical healthcare workers in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, in-home health workers and mental health workers receive the vaccines. Nursing home and long-term care facility residents are also included in Phase 1.

Those individuals included in Phase 1a will be given the vaccine on a scale that ranks from medium risk to high-risk and very high-risk exposure. According to the ADPH, more than 300,000 Alabamians fall into the Phase 1a population.

Those that perform aerosol-generating procedures, frontline health workers like EMTs, nurses and doctors in hospitals, laboratory personnel or healthcare workers handling potential COVID-19 specimens; residents and staff of nursing homes and long-term care facilities; and pathologists performing autopsies on persons suspected to have had COVID-19 at he time of death are including in the very high-risk category.

The high-risk category includes other healthcare workers who perform activities such as transportation or environmental services who risk exposure to bodily fluids or aerosols; other essential personnel with high potential for exposure to COVID-19 such as mortuary services; and persons providing direct patient care.

Medium-risk persons are considering those working in critical healthcare services who have direct contact with the general public, such as pharmacists and others with outpatient exposure risks like non-hospital based physicians, nurse practitioners, dentists, lab employees and other providers and ancillary support staff.

Phase 1b includes essential workers at highest risk for work-related exposure; persons 75 years old or older; residents living in homeless shelters, prisons or group homes; and first responders including firefighters and law enforcement.

Phase 1c includes persons age 65-74 and persons age 16-64 with high-risk essential workers and additional essential workers. Phase 2 includes the general population.

According to the ADPH, providers that receive the vaccine must immunize those in the very high-risk population of Phase 1a and make an “adequate” attempt to reach out to those that are in that very high-risk population before beginning to vaccinate others in the Phase 1a population.

As more vaccine doses are distributed to the state and more providers put their processes in place to administer the vaccines, ADPH says it will release information to its website on how to contact providers and make appointments if they meet the criteria to receive the vaccine. There is still no timetable for when the general population will be able to receive the vaccine, according to the ADPH.

“We want to manage people’s expectations appropriately and remind the public that not everyone can access the vaccine at this time,” State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said. “For the New Year’s holiday and beyond, I encourage people to please stay home and keep their events short in duration, outside when possible and only with everyone wearing masks.”

The ADPH’s dashboard that tracks the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine can be accessed at https://arcg.is/OrCey.