Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink, spoke to KSRM’S Sound Off on Friday to discuss the vaccination process, thus far, in Alaska. With the opening of scheduling to Alaskans over the age of 65, the online scheduling system was flooded with those seeking the COVID vaccine. Appointments filled up quickly, leaving many Alaskans found wanting.
Dr. Zink addressed the frustration that many Alaskans have experienced after failing to get an appointment to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination: “When people were going on the website to schedule, they were getting to a dead end because there was no vaccine and no available appointments. As soon as we get more vaccine in-state, we are getting it out to people as fast as possible. A couple of things people need to know: we will continue with this Tier, for those older than 65, until most of that demand is met. We won’t move onto our next Tier until we get it to you. It is coming. I think of it a lot like boarding a plane. We called up that next Tier, but there wasn’t enough to get everyone on at the same moment, so as more vaccine comes in and more equipment is opened, we’ll continue to ‘board’ people – to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible.”
According to Dr. Zink, individual Alaskans should pay nothing for the vaccine, with the only costs involved being administrative.
Leslie Felts, Kenai Public Health Nurse, was asked, ‘What locations on the Kenai are providing vaccinations?’ She said the list is growing, though appointment demand remains high: “Currently, there are mass dispensing events that have set up – I believe – most of the appointments have already been filled for those. There’s events in Homer, Soldotna, planned for Nikiski, and also out at Cooper Landing. We also have many more local pharmacies on-board that are providing vaccine, not only to our assisted living and senior centers, but they’ll be scheduling appointments at their facilities. Then, the federally-qualified health centers in all of the major communities on the borough: Seward, Homer, and Soldotna / Kenai.”
Felts added that helping your neighbors on the Kenai who are eligible but may not be computer savvy will help everyone who should be vaccinated receive a vaccination. She also noted that the Kenai got around 3,000 vaccinations thus far, but that is only going to increase with future shipments.
When getting a vaccine, is it time to take the mask off and party like it’s 1999? Not quite, says Dr. Zink: “We don’t have the data on that yet. We’re really hoping for that data to say, ‘You don’t need to wear a mask!’ or ‘You can be together!’ but as a result, we’re not making any changes to these other health recommendations. We would hate to have a vaccinated person feel fine, but have disease that they could spread to others, particularly when we have so few of our population yet vaccinated.”
Ultimately, Zink said that the lack of abundant vaccine is the biggest hurdle right now, but she emphasized visiting the state’s COVID vaccination hub for information, eligibility checks, and appointment scheduling.
