With thousands of vaccine appointments still open statewide, health officials say they’re concerned some Alaskans haven’t realized they’re eligible for a shot Published March 8
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We re making this important information available without a subscription as a public service. But we depend on reader support to do this work. Please consider supporting independent journalism in Alaska, at just $3.69 a week for an online subscription. Less than a week after Alaska significantly broadened its COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to include a huge chunk of the state’s population, appointment uptake has slowed: At least four thousand appointments remained open statewide by Monday afternoon.
Vaccine Eligbility Expanded to 55+, Essential Workers, Persons with Medical Conditions and Multigenerational Housing
March 3, 2021 ANCHORAGE – The State of Alaska Vaccine Task Force has today significantly expanded the criteria for who is eligible to receive state-allocated COVID-19 vaccine. Those newly eligible can now sign up for an open vaccine appointment in their community.
If you are not finding an open appointment in the community where you live, please check back regularly for more availability. Thursdays are when most appointments are added to the state system.
Those previously eligible (Phase 1a and 1b) can continue to get immunized against COVID-19 if they have not already done so. This includes most health care workers, people age 65 and above, those living and working in congregate settings, some pandemic response workers and people age 50 and above who have a high-risk medical condition OR work in an essential job around others.
Vaccine Providers Prepare for February COVID-19 Vaccine Shipments; more Appointments for Eligible Alaskans Become available Today alaska-native-news.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from alaska-native-news.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) - The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services announced this week that Alaska will receive 41,100 first doses of state-allocated COVID-19 vaccine for the month of February.
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Dr. Tessa Walker Linderman, is the DHSS lead for the Alaska COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force. Dr. Linderman is a Nurse Consultant for the Division of Public Health. She told reporters Monday the state health department is still in the very early part of the vaccine rollout.
“We are still in Phase 1A in terms of who Alaska is vaccinating, but discussions of future phases are happening.”
Federal health officers are shipping doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as fast as they can be manufactured and packaged. Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer says the state received about 60,000 doses of the vaccine this month, about 10 times more than expected.