COVID-19 Vaccine Soon Available To Alabamians Age 65 And Older

MONTGOMERY, AL — Gov. Kay Ivey Friday announced that Alabama residents age 65-74 are among a new group that will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine Feb. 8. he new group eligible includes people 65 or older, and additional groups of frontline workers.

The additional priority groups will add more than 1 million people that 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 only receive around 100,000 doses each week, Ivey said.

Frontline critical workers listed in the plan are as follows:

• 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)Childcare workers
• Judiciary (including but not limited to) circuit judges, district judges and district attorneys

"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."

This new group, which falls under Phase 1C of the state's vaccination allocation plan, which also includes those in previous phases who still have not received the vaccine.

As of Friday 148,549 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 175,326 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been given out to first responders, residents and staff of Alabama’s nursing homes and individuals 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.

"Alabama is expanding its guidance despite the limited vaccine in order to accelerate the vaccine uptake in our state," state health director 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."

To schedule an appointment for the free COVID-19 vaccination at a county health department, individuals may call the ADPH COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Hotline at 1-855-566-5333.