Starting Monday, December 28, NSHC will be vaccinating group 1 essential workers in order of:
- Daycare and K-12 teachers and support staff
- Grocery Store workers
- Cab\Taxi drivers
- Airline customer facing workers including Pilots, TSA, Gate/Desk Agents
- US Postal Workers
- Corrections workers, including adult and juvenile corrections and Seaside staff
- Staff of homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and similar congregate living facilities
- Office of Child Services and Adult Services Staff
- Fisheries/Seafood industry workers
Group 1 essential worker can schedule an appointment at www.picktime.com/NSHC. NSHC asks that you wait until you are out of travel or close contact quarantine before scheduling an appointment. You will not be able to get your vaccination until you have been cleared by an NSHC staff member. Please be prepared to wait an additional 15-30 minutes after your appointment as a NSHC staff member monitors for any signs of vaccine reaction.
NSHC continues to vaccinate the phase 1a group of QCC Residents and staff, direct patient care staff, EMS/First responders/Fire Personnel as well as elders who are ages 65 and older.
Within the following weeks, staff will communicate when other essential and critical infrastructure workers, who are not mentioned above, can schedule an appointment. Staff will also communicate when NSHC is ready to start vaccinating various age groups. In addition to vaccinating by age group, NSHC will be reaching out directly by phone to patients age 16 and older with certain medical conditions, to invite them to pharmacy for a vaccination. NSHC understands some community members are homebound. Please call or text 907-434-0461. Medical personnel will return your message and discuss a safe vaccine plan with you and your family.
We appreciate residents following these very specific guidelines and thank you for being patient as we work through the groups who can receive the vaccination.
In addition to this update, Norton Sound Health Corporation identified one new case yesterday, December 22. The patient is a resident of Nome and a close contact to a previously identified case. The State of Alaska Section of Epidemiology and Public Health Nursing have been notified and will investigate the case.
If you have questions regarding the vaccine, please check out this slideshow with frequently asked questions: http://bit.ly/3m2nfHG. You may also call in to NSHC’s Daily Tribal Leader Call every Monday-Thursday at 11 a.m. The call-in line is 1-800-315-638; access code: 03286#.