Website launched for Alabamians to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments, check eligibility
The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) announced on Monday a website that state citizens can use to check whether they are eligible for coronavirus vaccines and, if so, schedule an appointment to receive one.
The site, similar to the pre-existing vaccine scheduling hotline, only allows members of the public to make an appointment with the local county health department. If there is no appointment, individuals can apply to be notified when more vaccines are delivered in their area.
The web portal also leads to a map of where drive-in and walk-up clinics that do not require consultation are located.
County health departments where the portal can schedule an appointment are often not the only location in an area that distributes doses of vaccine; some photos are given to hospitals and other providers with their own scheduling system.
Jefferson County is running a COVID-19 vaccination process independent of the rest of the state. He created a separate hotline to call and a web portal to use that can only be accessed by county residents.
Currently, health professionals, people aged 75 and over and the first to respond are eligible to receive the vaccine in Alabama.
On February 8, eligibility will expand to anyone aged 65 and over and various categories of frontline workers.
All providers must comply with ADPH rules for anyone who is eligible to receive the vaccine.
Both vaccines currently approved for public use require two injections given a few weeks apart.
Vaccine doses in Alabama remain low. Currently, about 400,000 unused doses have been delivered to the state, but ADPH says that almost all second doses await the designated recipient to enter the appropriate window of time to obtain the second injection.
The first few doses that exist in the state have probably already been assigned to someone with an appointment.
The new website for scheduling a vaccination at a county health department can be found here.
A map of all locations in Alabama certified to distribute doses of vaccine can be found here, although, to see it, users must click on the “Vaccine Providers” tab at the bottom of the page.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @ HenryThornton95.