HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Eight regional COVID-19 vaccination clinics opened across Alabama on Monday, including one in Huntsville at John Hunt Park.
Huntsville Hospital is holding the mass vaccination clinic from Feb. 8-12 at the Jaycee Building.
Hospital officials say 60 staff members vaccinated about 1,700 people on Monday. Among those vaccinated were people 65 and older, teachers, and other critical workers.
Huntsville Hospital COO Jeff Samz said, "Some of those are people coming back for their second shot that were here three weeks ago, and then we'll probably do something like 1,500 new people today."
People vaccinated say the entire process took less than thirty minutes.
Hospital officials say 1,000 of the people vaccinated on Monday are part of the mass vaccination effort. They plan to vaccinate 1,000 people in the expanded group each day this week on top of the other scheduled appointments.
"The busiest day will be this Friday. We'll have about 2,000 people come through here," said Samz.
Rachel Mellen, a 7th Grade Teacher at the Academy For Academics & Arts, got her first dose on Monday. She says teachers have been eagerly waiting for their turn.
"Me and one of my co-workers, we found out that we could sign up and we signed up right away," said Mellen. "I was just so excited to be able to get a first spot on one of the first days."
Mellen says she's relieved now that she has been vaccinated.
"I'm in a slightly higher risk group anyway because I have some illnesses," said Mellen. "There's been a lot of kids in my classroom, and I've been really nervous about this and knowing that I'm going to be okay in a little while makes me just, I'm able to rest easy."
Vaccinations are given by appointment only to those in eligible groups.
Officials say there are more people who want to be vaccinated than there are vaccines available right now, but you can get on a waiting list.
This is how it works, according to Huntsville Hospital:
We will build the expanded schedule from the vaccination requests we are currently receiving through our website at this link: https://www.huntsvillehospital.org/covid-19-vaccination. Anyone coming to the vaccination clinic should bring a photo ID and your insurance information, if you have it. We will not collect any co-payments, and no one will be turned away based on their insurance status.
We will call people to schedule evenly from each category based on when their request was submitted. We already have more requests than we have appointment slots but will continue vaccinating through our regular clinic over the coming weeks and months. We encourage everyone to look for other vaccination sites.
The expanded eligibility criteria effective February 8, 2021, is:
- Anyone age 65 or above
- First responders including EMS, firefighters and law enforcement
- Frontline essential workers as follows:
- Corrections officers
- Food and agriculture workers
- U.S. Postal Service workers
- Manufacturing workers
- Grocery store workers
- Public transit workers
- People who work in the education sector
- Childcare workers
- Judiciary
- Clergy/ministerial
To schedule an appointment with Huntsville Hospital, visit Huntsville Hospital's website. The hospital will call you to schedule the appointment after you register. Once your appointment has been made, make sure you bring a photo ID and your insurance information if you have it.
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