Senior Vaccine Assistants Now Eligible for Vaccine as Alaska Plans Large Shipment of COVID-19 Vaccines in March

Alaska will receive more than 70% more COVID-19 vaccine doses in March than in February, state health officials said this week, and vaccine eligibility has widened slightly for include those who help older Alaskans get vaccinated.

The increase in planned vaccine doses is due to increased vaccine production at the federal level, said Dr. Anne Zink, Chief Medical Officer of Alaska.

“We have over 100,000 people who will be able to get vaccinated with an additional vaccine coming in March,” she said on a call with members of the media Wednesday. In February, Alaska received just 59,600 first doses of the vaccine.

The first 103,120 doses of vaccine to arrive in Alaska in March include 36,290 doses allocated by the Indian Health Service to the 229 sovereign tribes of Alaska and 66,830 doses allocated statewide by the federal government.

Additional vaccines will also come to Alaska through federal allocations from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Department of Defense.

If Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine is cleared for use in the coming days by the Food and Drug Administration, Alaska could receive an undetermined amount of additional vaccine produced by that company in March.

Officials also announced a slight update on Wednesday on who can now get a photo.

According to the updated guidelines, Alaskans who “help someone 65 years of age or older get vaccinated” can now get the shot. The senior and the caregiver must make an appointment at the same place and at the same time, and the caregiver does not need to meet other eligibility requirements to receive the vaccine, under the new rules.

Zink said the reason for the change was for the state to continue to prioritize immunization of the elderly who “are the group at greatest risk of death and hospitalization from COVID-19,” and it was one way to support this effort.

She added that other states that have changed their eligibility in the same way have been successful in increasing the participation of older people.

“We know we don’t live as individuals in our own individual bubbles,” she said. “So this is an attempt to really support the supporters, as well as to really help people 65 and over get vaccinated.”

So far in Alaska, at least 61% of seniors have received at least one dose of the vaccine, health officials said.

The state has also widened the language around “place of assembly” eligibility slightly to include anyone whose job requires them to spend time in assembly places.

As part of another vaccine eligibility update, anyone who provides daily home support to a “medically fragile person”, regardless of age, can get the vaccine. Previously, only those who provided support to seniors were eligible.

Other people who can sign up for the March vaccine doses include those already eligible for the vaccine in Alaska, said Tessa Walker Linderman, co-lead of the state’s Vaccine Task Force, at the Wednesday call.

People currently eligible for the vaccine in Alaska include: most healthcare workers in direct contact with patients, the elderly, educators and their support staff, Alaskans aged 50 and over with a high-risk health problem, essential front-line workers 50 and over who work close to others and people who live or work in collective premises.

The state will continue to work with this relatively large Alaskan group at least until early March, with the next level likely opening in the next few weeks, Walker Linderman said. (This next level lowers the age of eligibility for Alaskans in general and those with high-risk health conditions, in addition to adding other new groups.)

Those currently eligible to receive the vaccine can visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322 to book an appointment and confirm their eligibility. The telephone line is open from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends.

Not all March nominations will be released at the same time, Walker Linderman said. More appointments will be posted regularly by vendors in the coming weeks, so Alaskans are encouraged to continue checking the website for these niches.