While some provinces in Alabama have already begun offering the COVID-19 vaccine to anyone over the age of 75, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, it is likely to take weeks before it happens nationwide.
Dr. Karen Landers of the ADPH said on Thursday that the state is currently making a ‘smooth transition’ from phase 1a of the state’s vaccine plan to phase 1b, but that it could take weeks before the state as a whole is ready. is to make that step.
Phase 1a is focused on the delivery of the vaccine to frontline health workers, residents and staff of nursing homes. Phase 1b includes people over 75, law enforcement, firefighters and teachers and other education workers. Landers said the Phase 1b groups include more than 300,000 Alabamis and that the state simply does not have enough vaccine to make that happen.
“We definitely know that supply will be less than demand for the vaccine,” Landers said in an interview with AL.com on Thursday.
Landers said most of the state is working to distribute the vaccine among larger numbers of health workers before opening the process to additional groups, although some have offered the vaccine to people over 75, or to law enforcement and firefighters.
In Etowah County, a scheduled vaccination clinic had no doses for less than three hours, after creating a mile-long line in Gadsden. In Calhoun County, the health department on Tuesday began vaccinating people over the age of 75 in Anniston, which also caused long queues. In Madison County, the sheriff’s deputies began receiving the vaccine earlier this week.
“Each country or region may be in a different phase,” Landers said. ‘There are a number of provinces that have been able to start vaccinating some people in the age group of 75 years and older, as well as in our law enforcement and fire service community, due to the saturation of vaccine intake.
“So I expect we will have a smooth transition to that group of people and continue to expand into the category over the next few weeks.”
Landers said there may also be smaller cases where the vaccine is offered to people further down the list so that the state does not waste doses of vaccine that have already been thawed.
“Our commitment is not to lose a dose of vaccine in the state of Alabama,” Landers said. “We want to make sure every dose is used in the right way for patients.”
But she said it could be spring before people outside phase 1b can start receiving the vaccine.
“I think at this point, given the supply we have, we’re really looking at spring before we can really start expanding a lot,” she said.
The full interview with Dr. Landers are included below: