UAB Hospital Ready To Vaccinate More People, Waiting On More Vaccine
Alabama has among the nation’s slowest rates of COVID-19 vaccination, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Yet, officials at UAB Hospital said the rollout there is going better than expected.
As of Tuesday morning, the state’s largest hospital had administered more than 23,000 vaccine doses mostly to UAB employees plus local health care workers and emergency providers, according to the vice president of clinical support services Dr. Sarah Nafziger.
Nafziger said UAB has the staff and resources to expand distribution and establish larger community vaccination sites as soon as this week, but officials are waiting for sufficient allotment from the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH).
“The biggest barrier we have right now, and really the only barrier, is making sure we have vaccine doses,” Nafziger said. “It doesn’t make any sense to stand up a mass vaccination site and bring all those people out there and schedule people to receive vaccine if we don’t have the doses to give.”
Nafziger said the hospital has received three shipments of COVID vaccine so far and does not know how much more will come this month. She said ADPH typically tells the hospital how many doses to expect a few days before shipping the supply. UAB’s initial allotment was about 10,000 doses, followed by a shipment of about 7,000 doses, and a third delivery of about 3,000 doses.
The latest data from ADPH shows that statewide, providers have administered about 158,000 doses of the COVID vaccine, just over one-third of the roughly 446,000 doses that have been delivered to the state.
According to The CDC, as of Tuesday, Alabama ranked last in the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100,000 residents, although ADPH officials dispute that ranking. They blame distribution delays on a limited vaccine supply.
This week, the state expanded vaccine eligibility to residents aged 75 and older, as well as law enforcement officers and firefighters.
Demand is high and residents have expressed frustration with the process. A hotline to schedule appointments at local health departments was overwhelmed with calls last week and ran out of appointments in a few days.
ADPH officials have asked for patience and said they are developing an online scheduling system.
In Jefferson County, the health department is reaching out to eligible residents who sign up for a vaccine online or call a dedicated hotline. UAB Hospital is reaching out to patients who are eligible to schedule appointments at the UAB Highlands parking deck.
Editor’s note: UAB holds WBHM’s broadcasting license, but the news and business departments operate independently.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
Gov. Kay Ivey urges delay on PBS decision by public TV board
The Republican governor sent a letter to the Alabama Educational Television Commission ahead of a Nov. 18 meeting in which commissioners were expected to discuss disaffiliation.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
