LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More than 1 million Kentuckians are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, and Kentuckians aged 50 and older are now eligible for their shot.
What You Need To Know
- Over 1 million Kentuckians eligible for COVID-19 vaccine
- Kentuckians aged 50 and over now eligible for the shot
- Norton Healthcare is preparing to open another vaccine location in Louisville's Shawnee neighborhood
- New location expected to open next week
In Louisville, Norton Healthcare is preparing to open another vaccine location in the city's Shawnee neighborhood, expanding availability in predominantly African American communities. Norton is partnering with the insurance company Humana to open the Shawnee location. It's expected to open next week.
“One of the things that happened this week for us is we expanded our days and our hours of operation, and we have four sites that are open," Craig Johnson told Spectrum News 1. Johnson is the Vice President of Operations for the Norton Medical Group.
Vaccine supply is gradually increasing in the area as Jefferson County is vaccinating the 1C group. The third phase includes adults 16+ with a qualifying health condition and all CDC-defined essential workers.
Norton is also helping to schedule appointments at the mass vaccination site at the Kentucky Expo Center. Until recently, the drive-thru site had been focusing on essential medical and first responders as well as persons 60 years and older.
On Monday, healthy 50-year-olds could begin signing up for an appointment, and the wait isn't substantial.
“Right now, if anyone that joins our waitlist today can expect to get an email today and probably tomorrow at the latest, inviting them to schedule because we do have available appointments right now going into the first week of April," Johnson said.
However, if residents designate they can travel to the Expo Center on short notice, in 30 minutes or less, they have a chance at getting vaccinated even sooner.
“And we will go to that list if we need to, if we have doses to use before they expire and we will ask people to show up," Johnson said.
Johnson says using every dose they receive has been a top priority since the vaccine first arrived in Kentucky. Phase 1C is the largest vaccination group to date.
"That supply has opened up, more sites have opened up so it has put us in a much different spot today and certainly in the city and the metro area than maybe we were just a month ago," he added.