SE Health has plenty of COVID-19 vaccinations to give as eligibility expands

Last week, the Alabama Department of Public Health announced identified groups, including people 55 and older, people 16-54 with serious pre-existing conditions, and an expanded group of critical frontline workers would be able to receive the vaccine starting Monday as the supply has increased.

All of Southeast Health’s drive-thru lanes were open and busy Tuesday afternoon and COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Coordinator Wyndi Thompson said the hospital is already booking appointments for the groups of people identified in ADPH’s latest guidance.

“We’re able to accommodate more people now. We’re hoping to get to 1,000 a day, since we have the capacity and the capability and the vaccinations,” Thompson said, adding that only half of next week’s available appointments were currently filled. “We want to get to the point of herd immunization, so we can get back to normal life. So, we want to vaccinate as many people in our community as possible.”

Hospital staff and volunteers have administered thousands of shots since December, and Thompson said no one has exhibited a severe adverse reaction so far.

People can sign up for an appointment at www.southeasthealth.org/covid19vaccine/ and fill out their personal information on MyChart to get into the express lane of the drive-thru vaccine clinic in the first-floor parking desk of Southeast’s Health West Parking Garage.

Patients will still need to verify their appointment time and show their driver’s license or identification, insurance card (if they have one), and verify their Social Security number when they arrive to get their shots.

The new eligible groups include more frontline workers; people 55 and older; those with intellectual and developmental disabilities; and residents age 16 to 64 with certain high-risk medical conditions. The qualifying medical conditions include cancer, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, smoking, obesity, sickle cell disease, and heart conditions.

More workers will also be eligible for the shots, including restaurant staff, transportation workers, construction workers, bank tellers, legal professionals, and members of the news media.

Southeast Health is already seeing the fruits of widespread vaccinations as its number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has dramatically fallen since its peak of 117 in mid-January. Southeast Health reported 21 COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Tuesday.