One of the first allocations of coronavirus vaccines distributed in Mobile was five hundred doses of the Moderna product. Those shots went to local healthcare workers and first responders. They and nursing home residents are listed at the top of the vaccine priority list. Five hundred Mobile healthcare workers and first responders were first in line to get their initial dose of COVID vaccine across Alabama.
“Our distribution strategy was to vaccinate all those that were eligible under the Phase 1A criteria,” said Dr. Scott Chavers. He’s is an epidemiologist with the Mobile County Health Department.
Phase 1A means front line health workers, and nursing home residents and staffers get shots first.
“The vast majority of our healthcare here at Mobile County Health Department did elect to receive the vaccine and, then, for the remainder of the doses that we have on hand, we reached out to other healthcare providers and critical individuals, such as your frontline first responders to see if they were wanting to receive the vaccine and we had a very positive response along those lines,” he said.
Five million other Alabamians will have to wait their turn.
“So there is currently and will be a shortage of vaccine availability,” said Chavers.
“The projections are that those individuals that are considered the general public would begin to have access to the vaccine late March or in April and that would be contingent on no additional issues with manufacturing or distribution,” he said.
Another challenge still to come will be convincing the general population that the vaccine is safe.
“The vaccines are very, very safe vaccines,” Chavers asserted.
Chavers says the use of gene technology and moving the development to the top of the priority list help speed the development of the vaccines.
“There were no corners that were cut with respect to the actual clinical trials and then, again, this is tried and true technology that’s out there,” he said. C
OVID-19 cases continue to surge in Alabama with three hundred and fifty thousand infections and close to four thousand deaths. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts that Alabama will reach five thousand deaths by mid-month. That’s the time healthcare providers are worried Alabama will see a post-Christmas surge of coronavirus cases due to people traveling over the holidays.