Nebraska should see at least 43 retail pharmacies participating in a new federal program to help provide coronavirus vaccinations, including Walmart in Chadron and Scottsbluff and Alliance Community Pharmacy.
They will follow the same eligibility rules as current providers with vaccinations currently limited to healthcare personnel, staff and residents of long-term care facilities, workers in some key industries, and those 65 and older
Gov Pete Ricketts says he’s grateful for the additional 5,700 doses Nebraska will get, but is concerned about coordination because the federal Retail Pharmacy Program didn’t include a way for states and the retailers to ensure they’re on the same page.
Panhandle Public Health District assistant health director Jessica Davies says her agency and others in the region are asking some of the same questions as the governor because the early information has been sketchy.
Davies says one thing PPHD and Panhandle Unified Command are doing is urging everyone over 18 who hasn’t registered yet for the vaccine to do so using the state website, vaccinate.ne.gov.
Help in doing so is available at the PPHD website or by calling PPHD, but Davies says the agency’s own online registration program has been rolled into the state system. Anyone already registered through PPHD does not need to register again.
She also says anyone who has had COVID is still encouraged to get the vaccine, although anyone who received the monoclonal antibody treatment should wait at lease 90 days.