BATON ROUGE — Louisiana's Department of Health issued a release on Monday (Jan. 11), stating that throughout the week, 209 vaccine providers across the state will receive very limited doses of COVID vaccine.

These 209 providers – including 87 chain pharmacies, 93 independent pharmacies, 20 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), and 9 healthcare sites – represent all nine public health regions and 64 parishes of the state. This is an increase of 102 providers that eligible residents can access since last week.

The full list of providers offering vaccinations can be accessed here. 

The organization explains that while the state was able to resupply the initial 107 pharmacies that received COVID vaccine doses last week, future distribution is dependent on vaccine made available to the state, among other factors. 

These vaccines will be available only for those in Phase 1B, Tier 1: 

-Persons ages 70 years or older

-Outpatient clinic providers and clinic staff

-Urgent care clinic providers and staff

-Community care clinic providers and staff

-Behavioral health clinic providers and staff

-Dialysis providers and clients 

-Home health service providers, direct support workers and recipients

-Dental providers and staff

-Students, residents, faculty and staff of allied health schools

Participating providers must make available vaccine available to anyone who is eligible. Failure to do so will inform future decisions about distribution. 

LDH has published the list of participating providers, along with their locations and contact information, on its website: http://covidvaccine.la.gov

Eligible residents must contact a participating provider and make an appointment with them. Patients who arrive without an appointment will not be vaccinated. Officials ask that patients avoid arriving at a location without an appointment. They also advise that LDH cannot make appointments for patients; only providers can.

The Louisiana Department of Health is coordinating the COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort in Louisiana. As more vaccines become available from the CDC, more individuals and groups will be offered a vaccination.