An uneven vaccine rollout across Southern states is causing frustration. Health departments are overwhelmed with people seeking shots as phone lines and websites are unable to keep up with the demand.
The state authorized all counties to begin vaccinating first responders and people 75 years and older. But health officials say it will likely be next week before they can start doing that.
UAB Hospital is daily caring for a record number of new COVID-19 patients. These patients have been hospitalized because they are very sick or may be unable to survive without intensive medical care, according to UAB.
Alabama's ICU beds are filling up and the state has not yet seen the rush of new cases from holiday gatherings, according to the president of the Alabama Hospital Association.
As of Thursday, more than 2,400 COVID patients were hospitalized across the state. About 25% of those hospitalizations were in Jefferson and Shelby counties.
Birmingham-area hospital officials are asking Alabamians to take all possible precautions to stop the spread of the disease, including avoiding holiday gatherings with people who do not live in their households.
As Alabama receives its first allotment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, health officials anticipate challenges distributing the vaccine in rural communities.
In a gathering of 20 people, there's more than a 50% chance that one person in that gathering will be infectious and contagious with COVID-19, according to Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Mark Wilson.
Alabama will likely receive its first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine in January, according to health care experts. It was previously predicted that Alabama would receive the vaccine in December.
Research from Georgia Tech University shows there is a one in five chance you will catch the virus if you gather with a group of ten people in Jefferson County.