State health officials say the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine are expected to arrive in Alaska soon and that they are working with federal, state, tribal and military partners to plan for the state’s vaccination needs.
Department of Health and Social Services officials said Monday, Dec. 7, that if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes a vaccine, the Alaska COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force would begin distributing the vaccine to Phase 1A-COVID-19 vaccine providers in December and January.
According to current federal government estimates, Alaska’s initial allocations could include 35,100 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 17,900 doses of Moderna’s vaccine.
This vaccine will be distributed statewide among public private and tribal health systems. Federal authorities have allocated 11,700 doses of the initial Pfizer shipment for the Alaska tribal health system. Distribution of the vaccine in Alaska will not include military service members, who will be vaccinated separately through a federal allocation.
Phase 1A is for the first group eligible to receive the vaccine. According to national guidelines the group includes health care personnel and long-term care facility residents and staff. Regular shipments of vaccines are expected to continue through 2021. Distributing vaccines across Alaska is a large, coordinated effort and the timeline will change based on input from state, tribal, federal, military and community partners, said officials with DHSS and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
FDA officials were to meet on Dec. 10 with Pfizer and on Dec. 17 with Moderna to publicly discuss the review of the Emergency Use Authorization applications for these two COVID-19 vaccines, DHSS officials said. An emergency use authorization allows the FDA to make a product available during a declared state of emergency under an expedited review process. Alaska’s committee also planned to meet Dec. 10 to identify additional groups that would be incorporated in Phase 1A.
As of Dec. 4, 4,265 health care providers were enrolled in the state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Program. Clinics, pharmacies and hospitals were also encouraged to enroll to be included in future vaccine distributions.
Additional information on the Alaska distribution plan is at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/epi/id/pages/COVID-19/vaccine.aspx.
