The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) authorized Ohio to select no more than 10 sites with ultra-cold storage capabilities to receive an advance shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Ohio Department of Health recently clarified the role of these pre-positioning hospitals, as there appears to be a misunderstanding that they will redistribute COVID-19 vaccine to physicians and other healthcare professionals in their regions, which is not accurate. Ohio’s pre-positioning hospitals will receive a very limited supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (975 doses each) to begin vaccinating some of their critical healthcare workers after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approves an emergency-use authorization and CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issues its recommendations on the vaccine’s use. These pre-positioning hospitals will not redistribute vaccine to other healthcare professionals.
Other healthcare providers who are enrolled in Ohio’s COVID-19 Vaccination Provider Program and who can help vaccinate identified populations in each phase, will receive vaccine during that phase. If you haven’t already enrolled in Ohio’s COVID-19 Vaccination Provider Program, you can do so by going to the State of Ohio’s OH|ID webpage. Enrollment information and resources are available online.
The vaccine supply will be limited initially. Pending final Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ACIP recommendations, Ohio will first vaccinate individuals in Phase 1A who are in critical groups and choose to get vaccinated, including healthcare providers and personnel who are routinely involved with the care of COVID-19 patients, residents and staff at nursing facilities, residents and staff at assisted living facilities, patients and staff at psychiatric hospitals, people with intellectual disabilities and those with mental illness who live in group homes or centers and staff at those locations, residents and staff of Ohio’s veterans homes, and EMS responders.