COVID-19
Vaccine Information
The TNHAN network is being utilized to notify practitioners. If you are an LPC in Tennessee, consider searching for an email from Tennessee Health Alert Network or contact your local health department.
Information will be posted on the TDH COVID-19 website and updated by the Department as it evolves: https://covid19.tn.gov/. It is also a helpful reminder that the metro health departments in Shelby, Madison, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, and Sullivan counties are not under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Department of Health and may have other procedures in place.
Health care providers with questions may visit the health care provider website or call 615-741-7247 to speak with a member of the TDH Communicable and Environmental Diseases and Emergency Preparedness Program (CEDEP) team.
Also, behavioral health providers are in the 1a2 category, so you should be able to schedule vaccination. I work as a pharmacy tech (in all my spare time) and I have already received the first dose, as pharmacy is in the same 1a2 category as behavioral health providers.
This message was received from Chief of Staff of the Tennessee Department of Health:
Good afternoon Health Care Stakeholders:
I wanted to share a few updates with you. Many of you have reached out to us over the past couple of days to share feedback from your members. We appreciate you and your efforts getting the word out in your communities.
- Vaccine supplies are in extremely limited supply, and the demand for vaccines is great. We are pleased with the overwhelming interest Tennesseans are showing in receiving COVID-19 vaccinations, and we are working as quickly as possible to provide vaccines as we receive additional shipments.
- As you may have seen in the national media (See Bloomberg map), Tennessee has consistently been ranked in the top 10 states for percentage of doses used and for total doses administered. Last weekend alone, health department staff administered more than 25,000 COVID-19 vaccinations.
- Tennessee is dependent on vaccine supplies from the federal government. The federal government controls the maximum amount of vaccine doses that states receive, and please let me assure you that Tennessee is requesting the maximum allotment at every opportunity.
- We are now in a cadence of receiving additional allocations on a weekly basis.
- This week, shipments are expected to begin arriving at Tennessee pharmacies that are partnering with long term care facilities to vaccinate their members and staff onsite. It is vital to get vaccines to those who are the highest risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 as quickly as possible.
- TDH holds a webinar for health care providers every Friday from noon-1 p.m. Central time for providers to submit questions that are answered by the immunization program team. Learn more and register for the Jan. 15 webinar at www.tn.gov/content/tn/health/cedep/ncov/covid-19-webinars.html.
- As a reminder, counties will be progressing through vaccine distribution at different paces, as supplies and demand vary. The county phase status list may be found here.
- We are diligently working on system improvements, including the new online eligibility tool and alert signup (Eligibility – TN COVID-19 Hub). Additional resources and key updates will be posted online on our COVID-19 Vaccine page, located here.
