BATON ROUGE - According to officials with the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), during the week of February 8, a total of 378 vaccine providers across the state will receive very limited doses of COVID vaccine. 

These providers — including 112 chain pharmacies, 127 independent pharmacies, 52 hospitals, 15 community health centers (including 13 federally qualified health centers, or FQHCs), 6 rural health clinics (RHCs), 28 public health providers and 38 other healthcare sites — represent all nine public health regions and 64 parishes of the state.

LDH has published the list of participating providers, along with their locations and contact information, on its website: covidvaccine.la.gov. Residents can also call 211 to find a vaccine provider near them.

Future distribution is dependent on vaccine made available to the state, among other factors.

LDH also notes that there is no guarantee providers who receive the vaccine this week will also get the vaccine in the future.

Officials say these vaccines will be available only for the following populations in Phase 1B, Tier 1: 

-Persons 65 and older

-Dialysis providers and patients

-Ambulatory and outpatient providers and staff

-Behavioral health providers and staff

-Urgent care clinic providers and staff

-Community care providers and staff

-Dental providers and staff

-Professional home care providers (including hospice workers) and home care recipients (including older and younger people with disabilities over the age of 16 who receive community or home-based care, as well as clients of home health agencies)

-Interpreters and Support Service Providers (SSPs) working in community and clinic-based settings, and clients who are both deaf and blind

-Health-related support personnel (lab staff, mortuary staff who have contact with corpses, pharmacy staff)

-Schools of allied health students, residents and staff

LDH stipulates that participating providers make vaccines available to anyone who is eligible and that failure to do so will inform future decisions related to distribution.

Eligible residents are urged to contact a participating provider and make an appointment with them as patients who arrive without an appointment will not be vaccinated. 

It is also noted that LDH cannot make appointments for patients; only providers can.

Patients should receive their second doses of the COVID vaccine at the same location where they received their first dose. Second-dose appointments should be made during the administration of the first dose. 

The Louisiana Department of Health is coordinating the COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort in Louisiana and as more vaccines become available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), inoculation opportunities will also become available to additional individuals and groups.