With the arrival of approximately 2,000 doses of covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech, Jefferson Regional hospital will begin inoculating people listed in Phase 1-B of the Arkansas Department of Health plan today.
The vaccinations will not take place on the Jefferson Regional campus, rather at offsite locations that will be disclosed to each person when contacted about an appointment, said Wendy Talbot, the hospital's chief experience officer. This is because the clinics are not designed as walk-up or drive-thru settings, she said.
"We've had a waiting list posted out there on our website for a couple of weeks where anybody interested in getting a vaccine could just sign up," Talbot said. "We're in the process of reaching out to all those."
Populations in Phase 1-B include those age 70 and older, as well as education workers from early child care up to colleges and universities.
Jefferson Regional completed immunizations of those in Phase 1-A, Talbot said, including health care workers and first responders, but the hospital hadn't received any doses to begin Phase 1-B vaccinations until this week. The Arkansas Department of Health confirmed Monday that Jefferson Regional was receiving 38 trays -- at least 975 doses -- of prime and booster doses, or first and second shots, of the Pfizer/BioNTech-manufactured vaccine.
During his weekly covid-19 news conference, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Arkansas has been constrained by supply of the vaccine, adding that the federal government allocates supply to the states.
"We've had a consistent supply, but it's not been increasing this week," Hutchinson said.
He added that 92% of the supply coming into Arkansas last week went into the arms of citizens within 48 hours. The state has received about 72,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, by his count, with 37,125 of those being first-time doses.
Knowing that second doses have arrived, Hutchinson said, "should give people confidence that once you're in the system of having your first dose of vaccine, the second dose will be there for you."
Citing information from The New York Times and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hutchinson said Arkansas ranks 10th in percentage of population vaccinated at 6.5%.
"That's one indication that we are making progress and we want to improve that every day," he said. "It's challenging, but we can do better and we want to continue to do that because it saves lives."
The governor was awaiting news from Jeff Zients, who is coordinating the coronavirus response under President Joe Biden, about how many more doses Arkansas and other states will receive in the coming weeks. The Washington Post reported Tuesday the Biden administration has said it will seek to buy 200 million more doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, adding manufacturing has increased.
According to data from the Arkansas Department of Health as of Tuesday, 6,170 cases of covid-19 have been confirmed in Jefferson County with 5,845 recoveries. The number of confirmed deaths connected to covid-19 was 120.
Jefferson Regional's waiting list includes primarily Jefferson County residents, but it also has those from other counties, Talbot said. Eligible people may sign up for vaccination at jrmc.org/covid19/ or call (870) 541-3136.
"Our overall goal is, we want to get the vaccines in the arms of people who need them," Talbot said. "That's the goal, because as soon as we can get through, we can all get back to normal. The more people we've got doing this, the better, especially in Southeast Arkansas and Jefferson County."