BATON ROUGE - According to the Louisiana Department of Health, this week, 486 vaccine providers across the state will receive very limited doses of COVID vaccine. These providers include national and independent pharmacies, public health providers, clinics and physician offices, hospitals and others.

The full breakdown is below:

-232 chain pharmacies (including 116 Walmarts, 7 Sam's Club, 75 CVS, and 21 Winn Dixie from retail pharmacy program)

-102 independent pharmacies

-39 hospitals

-39 public health providers

-25 medical practices

-14 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs)

-10 urgent cares

-4 rural health clinics (RHCs)

-21 other healthcare providers

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

In addition to these providers, community vaccination events are taking place across the state and are also listed on LDH’s website. 

Residents requiring assistance can call the Bring Back Louisiana COVID-19 vaccine hotline at 1-855-453-0774 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

The hotline will help residents schedule vaccine appointments, find vaccine providers in their area and connect people with medical professionals who can answer vaccine-related questions.

Those with general COVID-19 questions should dial 211 for assistance.

All Louisiana residents ages 16 and older are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Participating providers must give available vaccine doses to anyone who is eligible. Failure to do so will affect whether the provider receives future allocations of the vaccine.

Eligible residents must contact a participating provider to make an appointment. Patients who arrive without an appointment will not be vaccinated. LDH cannot make appointments for patients; only providers can.

Patients receiving Moderna or Pfizer vaccines will receive their second dose of the COVID vaccine at the same location they received their first dose.

Officials say second-dose appointments should be made during the administration of the first dose. If patients missed their second dose vaccination appointment they should immediately contact the provider of their first dose to schedule a new appointment.

If a patient has received the Moderna vaccine, ideally their second shot should be given 28 days after the first one. If a patient gets the Pfizer vaccine, the second dose should be given 21 days after the first.

According to the CDC, patients can safely receive the second dose up to 42 days and likely longer after the first dose if need be.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is given in one dose, and like the other two vaccines is 100% effective at preventing hospitalization and death from COVID.