This article has been updated since it first appeared on our website to reflect current vaccination numbers.

The Copper River Native Association (CRNA) in Tazlina received its first doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on December 21 and began administering it to eligible recipients the following day.

As of January 17, they had given the first dose of the two-dose vaccine to 190 people.

Because of limited supply, the Center for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices made recommendations on the order in which the general population should receive the vaccine.  Each state is responsible for interpreting those allocation recommendations and adapting them to best suit its citizens’ needs.  

According to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services’ website, Alaska’s COVID-19 Task Force worked with the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association to form the Alaska Vaccine Allocation Advisory Committee (AVAAC).  The committee is comprised of approximately 24 health care professionals across the state with backgrounds ranging from emergency medicine to medical ethics. 

The AVAAC organized distribution into five phases, and each phase contains multiple tiers to assure the most vulnerable population receives the vaccine first.

Phase 1A, Tier 1 covers health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.  Phase 1A, Tier 2 and 3 covers first responders and health care workers not eligible in Phase 1A, Tier 1. 

Phase 1B, Tier 1 covers people ages 65 and older.  Phase 1B, Tier 2 covers frontline essential workers ages 50 and older.  Phase 1B, Tier 3 covers people ages 55-64 years old.  Phase 1B, Tier 4 covers people ages 50 years and older with underlying health conditions, and frontline essential workers not covered in previous tiers.  

Guidelines for Phases 1C, 2, and 3 are still being developed by the AVAAC.

Melanie McGinnis, marketing project coordinator at CRNA, said because there are no long-term care facilities in the area CRNA has already started offering the vaccine to eligible Phase 1B, Tier 1 recipients.

“We are encouraging anyone who is 65 years or older to call us, and the vaccination team will screen them to see if they are further qualified,” McGinnis said.

At the time of publication, Cross Road Medical Center (CRMC) in Glennallen had not yet received any vaccine doses and did not have an estimate of when they would.

“It’s a waiting game,” Leslie Corless, behavioral health executive assistant at CRMC said.  “We’re working diligently to get them and are waiting impatiently.”

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services is responsible for distribution of the vaccine.  After making a request for it, health care providers do not have control over when they will receive doses, how many doses they will receive, or which brand, Moderna or Pfizer, they will receive.

Medical experts ask those who receive the vaccine to continue to follow recommended precautions.  

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month, the vaccine isn’t considered 95 percent effective until seven days after the second dose is received.  

Additionally, Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer, said initial studies were done to look at the impacts the vaccine has on illness, but not the impact it has on transmission.

“As a result, recommendations for distancing, mask wearing, travel, etc., are not changing at this time,” Zink said.

For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine in the state of Alaska, visit: www.covidvax.alaska.gov.

Article by Amanda Swinehart