People 16 years of age and older are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. By the end of the week, nearly 300 people in communities around Iliamna Lake will have received Moderna’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
Nearly 300 people in communities around Iliamna Lake will have been vaccinated with Moderna’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the week. That’s according to Southcentral Foundation, which serves approximately 900 people in seven villages in the area.
Regional Manager Dustin Parker said that by the end of the week, Southcentral will have distributed a total of almost 400 first doses.
“The biggest part of vaccine deployment in the Iliamna Lake region is now behind us," he said. "We’re varying anywhere between 65- 85% in the seven communities that we serve."
Vaccination numbers are high around the lake; in Kokhanok, for instance, Parker said more than 85% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Southcentral plans to start distributing the Pfizer vaccine to communities as early as next week.
“We’re working with the vaccine depot to get the first order of the Pfizer vaccine out to Iliamna," he said. "It will then be stored in our laboratory freezer there, and then distributed around the region.”
That will open vaccinations to people 16 years old and older. Parker said it also simplifies logistics: early on, it was easy to schedule 10 people for the 10 doses in Moderna's vials. As demand slows, Pfizer’s five-dose vials will allow Southcentral to continue distribution without wasting any vaccine.
“Instead of having 10 people waiting in our lobby, we only have to have five," said Parker. "We’re kind of at the end of the road in terms of, everybody in the Iliamna Lake region that has wanted a vaccine has been able to get a vaccine.”
While demand for vaccinations has slowed, testing for COVID-19 has increased; Parker said the Lake and Peninsula Borough schools require basketball players to get tested weekly for practice and tournaments.
“In many of our communities we’re testing all these athletes once a week, so testing actually has gone back up to test all of these athletes, where vaccination rates have gone down because we vaccinated so many people,” he said.
Parker said Southcentral will consider requesting the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine for the influx of seasonal workers and fishermen who come to the region in the spring and summer.
Contact the author at isabelle@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
