Gov. John Bel Edwards will provide a New Year's Eve update on the state's response to COVID-19 and began with an update to the vaccines in Louisiana.
"We need to get as many Louisianans vaccinated as possible," Edwards said at the start of the press conference
On a hopeful note, on New Year's Eve, Louisiana will receive the Moderna vaccine starting next week. The doses will be limited but enough to get started, the governor says. The state expects the doses to increase as time goes on.
Vaccines have been distributed to long term personnel, safe and nursing homes, along with first responders (firefighters, EMS, Police) This group is called 1A. The next group will be 1B, will have the opportunity to start to receive the vaccine. This group will include those who are 70 years or older and hospital and ambulance workers.
There are believed to be around 485,000 people who fit that category in the state. Edwards says that there will not be enough vaccines to complete the vaccination for those individuals as of Monday.
100 local pharmacies will begin receiving limited doses of Moderna vaccine to begin giving out the vaccine to those people in that priority group
Edwards mentioned Tier 2 which will include front-line essential workers including teachers, grocery store employees, and others in those types of jobs. They are not yet ready to give the vaccine to those in Tier 2 priority group but Edwards says he wants those front-line workers to know they are coming up in the vaccine lineup.
People who fall into the categories are those who are 70 year old and older along with emergency services workers.
contact the designated pharmacy to make an appointment to receive a vaccine. Not everyone who is in the group will be able to receive a vaccine next week. No one should show up without an appoint. If there is no appointment, a vaccine will not be given
Pharmacies are randomly selected by LDH to be effectively spread across the state to reach those in all geographical areas.
The Louisiana Department of Health will provide information on the pharmacies selected on their website. They will provide names and locations of pharmacies along with a phone number of that pharmacy to call for an appointment.
"There are things we will learn going forward and we will make improvements as we learn more going forward with this process," Edwards said.
Edwards says that appointments are necessary so the locations giving the vaccine will know how many people to schedule to get the vaccines they have, which will be limited. The state says they will not know what will be available
28,000 Pfizer and 27,000 Moderna vaccines will be accepted in the state and will continue to be administered for the 1A group.
Vaccinations in the state are in it's third week. You are not considered vaccinated until the second dose is received . That is 21 days from the first vaccine administration. After the second dose, full effectiveness is believed to be achieved 10 days after being administered.
"this is a very safe and effective vaccine. We have, to my knowledge, not had a single negative effect from the virus in the state," Edwards said.
The most effective tool, Edwards says, is still the mask. The vaccine is still not available to everyone in the state.
In regards to COVID-19 cases, Edwards says that positivity is increasing in the state. Wednesday showed the highest number of cases in the state at 6,754.
"I am imploring people, it is never too late to do the right thing. Be responsible and take the health of others and yourself seriously."
Edwards, before starting to speak about COVID and the vaccines in Louisiana spoke about Congressman-elect Luke Letlow who recently passed following complications from COVID-19. Read more here.
Speaking about the restrictions in place, Edwards said the state is not at the point where there needs to be any additional restrictions or changes.
"We are always evaluating this. Whether we have to do this or not is up to the people of Louisiana, collectively," Edwards said.
Concerning a question on the availability and the swiftness of the vaccines being administered, Edwards says that the state is trying to minimize the time in which the vaccine is being stored. He said that they want to minimize any waste of the vaccine.
When asked when he would get the vaccine, he stated that when the group that he fits into (most likely state and local officials group) can receive the vaccine he will. He says that he will wait his turn to make sure that others who need the vaccine receive theirs first. He says he is unsure of when that will be.
See the live stream below:
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