To the patients of Alliance Health,
On behalf of your doctor and our tremendous team of care-givers I want to share our wish that you are staying healthy and safe.
We are quite relieved that a Covid vaccine is making its way through the system and will be available to you before long. Our doctors have started receiving their first dose already and recommend it for their adult patients as it becomes available.
As the vaccine process advances you may be wondering how to obtain your shot. Here is information to help you figure that out.
When can I get my Covid Shot?
We love to plan and organize things here at Alliance Health. It is something we do well. Ideally we could give you dates and times for immunizations. Unfortunately we can’t quite do that yet. Timing will depend on the supplies of vaccines as they move through the process. However, we can give you a broad outline for the order once the vaccine supply builds up.
- Supplies of vaccine material is still quite limited. The Department of Health and Human Services has laid out a priority sequence of which people will be eligible for immunization. The State is working to get the doses to those at highest risk.
- The list is fairly detailed and can be found at the link at the bottom of this note. The criteria has been changing. Here are the most recent highlights:
- In the first phase (Phase 1a) the priority is for workers in health care settings. Since that is many people it has been subdivided with the most risky roles first (EMS, ICU, ER, etc). And it works down from there. Somewhere down that priority list will be the turn for Alliance Health staff.
- This phase also includes people in certain long-term care facilities.
- The next phase (Phase 1B) will include those who are 75 years old or more. Essential front-line workers will also be eligible at this Phase, including teachers, corrections workers, grocery, food service, and postal workers, among others.
- This is followed by Phase 1C that targets persons 65 and over as well as people with certain chronic conditions like COPD, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and others.
- After that Phase 2 will provide the vaccine to anyone 16 and over. There is not yet guidance for those people under 16 years of age.
- There will not be a requirement that one phase be entirely completed before the next phase can begin.
Where can I get my Covid Shot?
Alliance Health is working with the State to get approval to provide you with immunizations right in our office. We would be happy to give you these shots just like we do all your other shots. We will let you know when (and if) we are approved to get you immunized.
The local Health Department has indicated they will be providing Covid immunizations. They have crews set up to administer vaccines at a high volume. As each batch of vaccines arrive they are working through the priority list.
Some pharmacies will be getting doses to supply to long-term care facilities. We understand they may be able to offer some to the public as well. Those of you over age 75 may find that your pharmacy can accommodate you before we can.
How can I find out more?
This note is just a short summary. For more complete information we recommend the State’s website as below.
If you just want to keep up to date on when the local health department will begin scheduling vaccines:
https://www.macombgov.org/covid19-COVID19VaccineCentral
Finally we at Alliance Health want to keep you updated. Look for future messages. Also, we can post updates on our facebook page or our web site: AllianceHealthProfessionals.com
Thank you for continuing to depend on Alliance Health for your medical needs. We will keep you informed as we know more.
We wish you a safe and happy new year.
