Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) announced Friday, Jan. 29, that starting Feb. 8, ADPH will extend eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations to include people 65 or older and additional groups of front-line workers.

The Vaccine Allocation Plan is available at www.alabamapublichealth.gov/covid19vaccine/assets/adph-covid19-vaccination-allocation-plan.pdf. Frontline critical workers listed in the plan are:

• First responders.
• Corrections officers.
• Food and agriculture workers.
• U.S. Postal Service workers.
• Manufacturing workers.
• Grocery store workers.
• Public transit workers.
• People who work in the education sector (teachers, support staff, community college and higher education).
• Child care workers.
• Judiciary, including but not limited to circuit judges, district judges and district attorneys.

The additional priority groups will add more than 1 million people who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in Alabama. While just under 2 million people will qualify to receive the vaccine, the state continues to receive only about 100,000 doses each week.

As of today, 148,549 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 175,326 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been given to first responders, residents and staff of Alabama’s nursing homes and people 75 and older. A total of 772,275 vaccines have been delivered to Alabama, meaning that 42 percent of what has already been delivered to the state has been administered.

“We have all been frustrated that the supply of vaccine coming from the federal government hasn’t kept up with the demand,” Ivey said. “To be blunt, we simply haven’t gotten the vaccine that we’ve been promised, and this has created a major backlog of aggravation. Today’s announcement will ensure that as more vaccine is released, we will have a plan in place to get the vaccine in people’s arms more quickly.”

Covered in this expanded group are people at high risk for work-related exposure and those in identified age groups at risk for COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality. These include people working or living in congregate settings including but not limited to homeless shelters and group homes.

“Alabama is expanding its guidance despite the limited vaccine in order to accelerate the vaccine uptake in our state,” State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said. “I want to reiterate that any remaining vaccines that have not been administered are either someone’s first dose and they are waiting on their appointment or they are waiting on their second dose. Any vaccine currently in the state has someone’s name on it.”

As a courtesy to others, healthier people age 65 and older and workers within these groups are encouraged to consider delaying their vaccination so that more vulnerable people can access the vaccine before them.

To schedule an appointment for the free COVID-19 vaccination at a county health department, call the ADPH COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Hotline at 1-855-566-5333. For general information about COVID-19, the COVID-19 Information Hotline number is 1-800-270-7268. The vaccine providers can be found within the Alabama COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Dashboard at arcg.is/OrCey.

ADPH anticipates the release of a new online tool next week that will provide information about opportunities for vaccination, including drive-through clinics being scheduled throughout the state.