COVID-19 vaccines expanded to 508 locations. See where to get an appointment
Andrew CappsCOVID-19 vaccines are now available to more than 500 locations across the state, according to Louisiana's Department of Health, and anyone over 65 is eligible to be vaccinated.
Last week, LDH expanded vaccine eligibility to anyone over 65, adding another 275,000 residents to the state's criteria for getting one of the COVID-19 vaccines. More than 1 million residents now qualify to get the vaccines, according to LDH estimates, which require appointments at the state's participating locations to start the necessary two dose regimens.
Louisiana will get a combined 74,250 COVID-19 vaccines for distribution this week, and next week the state's supply is expected to jump to more than 90,000 new doses as Louisiana moves from getting 29,250 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine each week up to 45,630 doses.
The state's 508 participating vaccination providers this week cover all 64 parishes and mark a major expansion in locations after last week saw 378 providers get vaccine shipments.
Last week, the state expanded vaccine eligibility to people 65 and older after spending weeks limiting access to the vaccines for members of the general public to people 70 and up. That expansion added more than 275,000 people to the state's eligibility criteria, according to LDH estimates.
Appointments are required to get vaccinated at all participating locations. Contact info is available in the map below.
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As of Monday, 528,036 people in Louisiana have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly half of those people — some 254,000 — have received their second shot, completing the required two-dose regimen for both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna varieties.
More than 1.1 million people in Louisiana currently qualify for the vaccines, according to LDH estimates.
Though first doses of the vaccines have been given to well over 10% of the state's total population, initial vaccination rates continue to lag in the Acadiana, Alexandria and Lake Charles areas compared to the state's larger population centers.
Those three areas are the only regions in the state to still have less than 10% of their total populations get an initial vaccine shot as of Monday, with Lake Charles the furthest behind at just 8.1%.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans region has given at least one shot to 12.4% of its residents, and the Shreveport and Monroe areas have both reached more than 11.5% of their regional populations.
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This week, 62 pharmacies across the eight-parish Acadiana region are expected to get COVID-19 vaccine deliveries, down from 77 the week before.
A full list of locations is available online and a map of pharmacies with the COVID-19 vaccines across Louisiana is available here.
The following groups are currently eligible to be vaccinated in Louisiana:
- Persons ages 65 years or older in the community
- First responders to serve as vaccinators
- Law enforcement and other first responders
- Dialysis providers and patients
- Ambulatory and outpatient providers and staff
- Behavioral health providers and staff
- Outpatient providers and staff
- Urgent care clinic providers and staff
- Community care providers and staff
- Dental providers and staff
- Professional home care providers (including hospice workers) and home care recipients (including older and younger people with disabilities over the age of 16 who receive community or home-based care, as well as clients of home health agencies)
- American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and Support Service Providers (SSPs) working in community and clinic-based settings, and clients who are both deaf and blind
- Health-related support personnel (lab staff, mortuary staff who have contact with corpses, pharmacy staff)
- Schools of allied health students, residents and staff
- State and local essential COVID emergency response personnel
- Some elections staff ahead of March elections
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