HUNTSVILLE, Ala — Alabama, like other states, is facing a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, but if you take a look at the state's Vaccine Distribution Dashboard, it shows just over 51% of Alabama's doses have been administered.
On Wednesday, the Alabama Department of Public Health reported 523,241 doses had been administered out of the 993,715 doses that have been delivered to the state.
Huntsville Hospital COO Jeff Samz says those numbers can be misleading.
"When we get a new shipment and we have more vaccine in inventory, that percent administered drops way down," said Samz.
Some vaccine distribution data shows Alabama is lagging behind in the percent of population vaccinated for COVID-19.
Dr. Karen Landers with the Alabama Department of Public Health says the charts and graphs don't tell the whole story.
"Our data is a day behind going in because of the way that it's submitted," said Dr. Landers.
Although Huntsville Hospital's COVID-19 vaccination clinics aren't holding doses in freezers, most of the doses allocated to the state that haven't been given have someone's name on them.
"When you look at the data on the dashboard, keep in mind that the vaccine that is distributed to Alabama now is already spoken for," said Dr. Landers.
Samz says their clinics build their vaccination schedule around how many doses their clinics will get.
"We're trying to anticipate how many people are going to come and how much vaccine we'll have, so we'll make sure we have your second dose here when it comes," said Samz.
If they start to run short on vaccine doses, he says they will stop taking new appointments to ensure there are enough for those who need their second dose.
Alabama is facing a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines because of the nationwide vaccine shortage.
State health officials say they are vaccinating as many people as they can as quickly as possible, but there are still far more people who want to be vaccinated than there are vaccine doses available.
"Keep in mind the supply is limited, and we've expanded the eligibility to over 1.6 million people who have to be vaccinated twice," said Dr. Landers. "If you look at our allocation and distribution, 1.6 million people vaccinated twice is 3.2 million doses, and even if you divide that in half and only fifty percent of people are vaccinated, you still don't have enough vaccine."
ADPH says they're working to get vaccines to clinics in more areas, but the vaccine shortage is their biggest obstacle.
According to ADPH, many county health departments are no longer offering first doses and are only giving second doses right now because of the limited supply of vaccine.
Vaccinations are given by appointment only to those in eligible groups.
Officials are asking people to be patient and wait to schedule your vaccination appointment if you have no underlying health issues or have limited contact with other people.
To schedule an appointment with Huntsville Hospital, visit Huntsville Hospital's website. The hospital will call you to schedule the appointment after you register.
Once your appointment has been made, make sure you bring a photo ID and your insurance information if you have it.
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