DECATUR, Ala. — People 16 and older are now eligible to get the vaccine here in Alabama. At the Decatur COVID-19 briefing, health officials not only spoke about that but how you could get a leftover dose.
Adding people 16 and older to the eligibility list is a huge step in vaccination efforts, but there are still some hoops to jump through.
"If you are 16 or 17, right now it has to be Pfizer vaccine, the hospital and a few of the pharmacies around town are doing the Pfizer vaccine, the health department is not, so we will be doing the 18 and older," said Judy Smith, public health administrator with the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Smith offers up a resource that could help you find a vaccine appointment.
"And if you go to vaccinefinder.org, you can say what your zip code is, it will ask you how many miles you're willing to go to take a vaccine and then you can even indicate which vaccine you're willing to take," said Smith.
Sometimes there are leftover doses at the health department, and if interested, you may be able to get vaccinated with one of those doses.
"People had made appointments everywhere, they made one with the hospital, one with us, one at every pharmacy in town and they certainly went to the one that called them first and I don't blame them, but then they did not cancel the other appointments and so what has ended up happening is actually we tend to have some extra doses almost every day that we have the clinics," said Smith.
Smith also assures if you want the vaccine, you can get the vaccine.
"But the bottom line to it is, if you can't find a dose - if you will call either the hospital or the health department, or one of these other entities, you know, there is a good chance that by late morning which is when we are doing our appointments or by late afternoon, when I say late afternoon, around 2-2:30, you know, there is a real possibility that you can get a vaccine, and I will tell you if you need a vaccine, we have the vaccine," said Smith.