Late last week, federal health officials approved a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for people who have compromised immune systems.
There’s a specific list of people who qualify and it’s a relatively narrow slice of the public. But after that announcement, Juneau residents went looking for that third shot.
Alison Gottschlich, a nurse with Juneau public health, says they got a lot of calls this week.
“It made it a little bit complicated that the announcement came out on like, Friday evening, basically,” Gottschlich said. “So then, you know, starting Monday morning, it was like, people just sort of are like, okay, I’m ready for my third dose. And we’re like, wait, it’s not quite that simple.”
But it turns out there aren’t actually many places in town you can get one. Juneau Public Health is waiting on an updated medical directive — basically an approval from the state health department.
Even more confusing: You can make an online appointment for that third dose at Juneau Public Health.
“Yeah, so for folks who have already … the system that we use, those IT folks are really on it and went ahead and updated that that software system to include an option for a third dose,” Gottschlich said. “So that it’s a little bit just making things a little bit complicated because now there’s that option to register for your third dose, even though we can’t technically provide it yet.”
Gottschlich says if you call around to your primary care doctor, you might not have much luck here either.
“A lot of the doctor’s offices in town had sort of stopped providing COVID vaccine, so we’re hoping that they will start ordering additional doses so they can get their clients vaccinated with those third doses,” she said.
So where can you get a third dose?
There are three places in Juneau currently offering them for immunocompromised people. Juneau Urgent Care and Genoa Healthcare have Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Capstone Clinic at the airport only has Pfizer.
Juneau Urgent Care wants people to call first — 907-790-4111. They’re asking people to self-identify which category of immunocompromised they fall into, though you won’t have to prove it.
And Genoa Healthcare reports that people can make appointments online. They have Pfizer every day of the week and Moderna on Fridays.
