By Erica Wright
The Birmingham Times
One day ahead of the official opening of the A.H. Parker High School community vaccination site, Birmingham City Schools (BCS) Superintendent Dr. Mark Sullivan on Wednesday received his COVID-19 vaccine shot along with some school employees.
“We know one of the best ways to end this pandemic is to ensure that everybody gets vaccinated,” said Sullivan. “As part of Birmingham City Schools, we want to be part of the solution, that’s why we opened the doors of Parker High School . . . for the community to have an opportunity to have a vaccine within the city.”
Supply continues to be the controlling factor in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine to Alabamians, as Alabama Public Health reports demand for the vaccine greatly exceeds the number of doses available in the state.
The health department has approved vaccination of people 75 and older as vaccination of health care providers and first responders, including police and firefighters, continues.
According to APH, there are more than 326,000 health care providers in the state and almost 350,000 people 75 or older. Combined, those people alone exceed the 640,150 doses of vaccine currently allocated for Alabama by more than 25,000s.
So far, only 446,150 doses of vaccine have been delivered to the state, and according to the last count from APH, 158,116 of those had been administered by Wednesday, with efforts continuing statewide.