The state health department announced yesterday that Alaska will receive 60,760 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the month of March. Another 32,720 first doses have been allocated to Alaska’s Tribal Health System by the federal Indian Health Service (IHS). An equal amount of second doses will be shipped to Alaska later in the month.
Squeezed into the last days of February, states are getting a supplemental allocation of vaccine. For Alaska, this is 9,640 doses – 6,070 doses to the state and 3,570 to tribal clients.
There will also be federal vaccine allocated to soldiers and veterans. Chief Medical Officer Anne Zink says another vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“So it’s pretty exciting to think that more than 100,000 Alaskans will be able to be vaccinated next month with this additional dosing. This does not include the Johnson and Johnson vaccine that has received FDA approval, but is still going through the rest of the ACIP and CDC approval process before it is available. That’s pretty exciting. We do think that it’s likely we will expect vaccine in March from Johnson and Johnson, but as you see, we have both Pfizer and Moderna in much larger quantities coming into the state.”
The vaccine rollout has been successful for seniors; at least 61% of those over age 65 had received one or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine. More than one in four Alaska adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot, according to figures from the state health department.