PROVIDENCE – Rhode Islanders in the near-future will be able to access a variety of vaccination sites for COVID-19, according to the R.I. Department of Health.
The options will include retail pharmacies, community and regional sites run by cities and towns and statewide vaccination sites, according to Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the R.I. Department of Health.
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The state as of Sunday surpassed 100,000 doses of the two available vaccines. She said the rollout of more vaccine, as it becomes more widely available through the federal government, will resemble the process now happening with testing.
Rhode Island is now in its first phase of vaccine administration, and recently started vaccinating people aged 75 and older, the final group in the first phase. About 5,000 of these elderly people, who do not live in congregate care settings, received their first vaccine doses in the past week at community clinics.
Starting next week, the retail pharmacies CVS and Walgreen’s will begin vaccinating people aged 75 and older, who register in advance. The registration will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Sunday for Walgreen’s, she said. The sign-up is on the Walgreens.com website or by calling a local Walgreen’s. Fourteen locations in Rhode Island will participate.
Earlier this week, CVS announced it would have vaccinations available in Providence and in Johnston. Registration for those locations also will begin Sunday, Alexander-Scott said.
In the near future, the state will begin distributing to cities and towns 7,000 doses a week, on a per-capita basis, for them to vaccinate people in community clinics.
And the state, by mid-February, will be establishing a state-run site.
Alexander-Scott said the state is determined to follow a methodical distribution as the supply of vaccine ramps up.
More than 2,200 Rhode Islanders have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic appeared in the state, including another 11 reported Thursday.
Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in the state totaled 290, a decline from 298 one day prior. Of those hospitalized, 43 were in intensive care units, an increase of one from the day before, and 23 were on ventilators, the same number as Wednesday.
Cases in the state increased by 496 on Wednesday, the department said.
There have been 117,291 COVID-19 cases in the state to date, an increase of 587 from figures reported Wednesday, accounting for both the day-to-day increase as well as data revisions for previous days.
There were 17,850 tests processed Wednesday with an overall positive rate of 2.8%. When excluding both repeat positive and repeat negative results, the positive rate was 19.6%.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
