BATON ROUGE - Mary Bird Perkins - Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center has started to vaccinate their staff as of Monday.

Within the last two weeks, the oncologists were all vaccinated and now their staff starts today. 

The vaccination process will start with direct patient caregivers and will go on from there.

The cancer center says that there are enough doses to vaccinate the entire staff.

For patients to receive the vaccine, they will have to discuss whether or not to receive the shot with their oncologists.

"Our cancer patients are very immunocompromised and all have various diagnoses and treatments, so there is a lot to consider, but patients are a part of our overall vaccination strategy," said Scott J. Miller, the Communications Director. 

Staff from Mary Bird Perkins’ Gonzales, Hammond, Houma, Covington and Natchez are also being vaccinated at the Mary Bird Perkins – Our Lady of the Lake location.