COVID-19 vaccination appointments opened up for another wave on Thursday, and after a great deal of traffic and interest was shown on the state’s online COVID vaccination hub, it has become clear that the vaccines that are available are being utilized quickly.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Emergency Manager Dan Nelson provided a COVID-19 vaccination update on Thursday: “Clinics and pharmacies and hospitals throughout the Kenai Peninsula Borough have received their February vaccination allocation from the State of Alaska. For most areas of the Kenai Peninsula, you can see new vaccine clinics that are available for people to register. You can always register by going to covidvax.alaska.gov. Remember to search for your provider or in your area, on that site, to see availability.”
Late Friday morning, KPB Alerts posted on their Facebook page that there were around 600 appointments for COVID vaccinations still available, at that time, on the Central Peninsula to be held early next week.
For those still having difficulty finding a place to be vaccinated, what is the next step? Bud Sexton of the Office of Emergency Management says it all boils down to getting more vaccine in Alaska: “ We’re still waiting on additional vaccines to come in from the federal level. They’ll pass through to the state, then right out the door to us in the borough. So, until we get more vaccines, that’s what we’re waiting on to establish further clinics down the road.”
When an appointment is successfully made in the City of Kenai, transportation will be provided round-trip via Alaska Cab and CARTS. City Manager Paul Ostrander spoke to KSRM about the importance of this service: “As vaccines are rolling out, and are available, particularly for those groups, seniors 65 and older, there are seniors in our community that either don’t drive or can’t drive, and for those folks this transportation voucher will offer them the opportunity to get travel in either an Alaska Cab or with CARTS from a Kenai address to a Kenai vaccination clinic. Folks that are eligible, anybody that lives in a 99611 area and is traveling to a vaccine clinic in the city of Kenai will receive round-trip transportation through this program.”
Keep an eye on the state’s online vaccination hub for updates about future clinics.
