NEW ORLEANS — Starting Monday, a network of 105 pharmacies across Louisiana will begin receiving doses of the Moderna Coronavirus vaccine.
People 70 and older, certain health care workers and patients on dialysis will be able to make an appointment at one of the participating pharmacies then receive the first of the two-shots.
“I’m asking those individuals to be patient with your pharmacy,” Governor John Bel Edwards said. “This is going to be a limited release to start. Not everyone who is in these priority groups is going to be able to get a vaccine next week.”
The list of pharmacies will be available on the Louisiana Department of Health website Monday morning.
Dr. Joseph Kanter at LDH said how many doses a pharmacy may have on a given day is hard to predict.
Some of the pharmacies on the list may not get the vaccine until later in the week.
“They really don’t know how many they’re going to receive until sometimes that morning, maybe the night before because the state doesn’t know what we get allocated until a few days before,” Kanter said.
Tulane University Epidemiologist Dr. Susan Hassig consulted on the vaccine rollout plan in Louisiana.
She said it’s important to start having access points to the vaccine that are more widely available to the population.
“Commercial pharmacies that are very accustomed to providing vaccines are an excellent and very logical entry point for us to provide this vaccine as well,” Hassig said.
Hassig predicts it could be late spring before someone who is 30 years old and otherwise healthy has the opportunity to get a vaccine.
“I’m concerned that we’re not getting as many doses as we could certainly use and distribute quite effectively because Louisiana has a very efficient system set up,” Hassig said.
A reminder, people must make an appointment at the pharmacy to receive a vaccine.
Others will be turned away regardless of whether they are in the group now eligible for the shot.
So far, at least 45,000 Louisiana health care workers, emergency medical staff, first responders and nursing home staff and residents have received the vaccine.
They will continue to be able to be vaccinated in the coming weeks as new groups gain access to the vaccine.
