Starting February 8, people over 65 and additional frontline workers are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations.

The additional priority groups will add over 1 million people that are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in Alabama. While just under 2 million people will qualify to receive the vaccine, the state continues to only receive around 100,000 doses each week.

Workers listed in the plan include: First responders, corrections officers, food and agriculture workers, U.S. Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, people who work in the education sector (teachers, support staff, community college and higher education), childcare workers, and judiciary (including but not limited to) circuit judges, district judges and district attorneys.

“It’s very good for essential workers to receive the vaccine soon,” said Venki Padmanabhan, general manager at REHAU.

“To make a living, to meet their work obligations, and to earn their economic needs, there is some degree of risk they are having to take to come to work.

“We take all the precautions we can to ensure that they don’t get exposed at work. But we cannot assume that their protection continues once they are back home and around. The vaccine will surely protect them then. And we can all come to work feeling safer.

As an employer, with vaccinated employees the risk to my business surely comes down too as it does for each of us personally. The two unknowns will be: who will elect not to take it and how long will it take service providers to administer it

Local courts likely won’t see an immediate change from the widened vaccine availability beginning Feb. 8. With so many eligible new groups statewide, and so few doses to go around, Cullman County Circuit Clerk Lisa McSwain said Friday that, at least as of this week, court staff “are still not really a priority.”

Cullman City Schools Superintendent Susan Patterson said the system is working with Cullman Regional to develop a plan for distributing the vaccine to teachers.

“I have sent a google form out to gather information from employees that are willing to take the vaccine,” she said. “They will prioritize based on age and underlying health conditions.”

According to the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), as of Friday 148,549 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 175,326 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been given out to first responders, residents and staff of Alabama’s nursing homes and individuals 75 and older. A total of 772,275 vaccines have been delivered to Alabama, meaning that 42 percent of what has already been delivered to the state have been administered.

“We have all been frustrated that the supply of vaccine coming from the federal government hasn’t kept up with the demand,” Governor Kay Ivey said. “To be blunt, we simply haven’t gotten the vaccine that we’ve been promised, and this has created a major backlog of aggravation. Today’s announcement will ensure that as more vaccine is released, we will have a plan in place to get the vaccine in people’s arms more quickly.”

Covered in this expanded group are people at high risk for work-related exposure and persons in identified age groups at risk for COVID-19 associated morbidity and mortality. These include people working or living in congregate settings including but not limited to homeless shelters and group homes.

“Alabama is expanding its guidance despite the limited vaccine in order to accelerate the vaccine uptake in our state,” state health official Dr. Scott Harris said. “I want to reiterate that any remaining vaccines that have not been administered are either someone’s first dose and they are waiting on their appointment or they are waiting on their second dose. Any vaccine currently in the state has someone’s name on it.”

As a courtesy to others, healthier people age 65 and older and workers who fall in these groups are encouraged to consider delaying their vaccination so that more vulnerable people can access the vaccine ahead of them.

To schedule an appointment for the free COVID-19 vaccination at a county health department, individuals may call the ADPH COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Hotline at 1-855-566-5333. For general information about COVID-19, the COVID-19 Information Hotline number is 1-800-270-7268. The vaccine providers can be found within the Alabama COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Dashboard at arcg.is/OrCey.

ADPH anticipates the release of a new online tool next week which will provide information about opportunities for vaccination, including drive-through clinics being scheduled throughout the state.

Reporters Benjamin Bullard and Tyler Hanes contributed to this story.