Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

LAPLACE — Starting this week, Louisiana received the first very limited doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine that will be available at approximately 100 pharmacies across the state. The Louisiana Department of Health released that these vaccines are available at select pharmacies in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes.

These vaccines will be available only for:

• People 70 years old and above
• Ambulatory/outpatient care personnel
• People being treated for end stage renal disease (patients on dialysis)
• Schools of allied health students/residents/staff
• Home agency patients and personnel

Patients must contact a participating pharmacy and make an appointment at the pharmacy. Patients who arrive without an appointment will not be vaccinated. Vaccinations are BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. Do not arrive at a location without an appointment.

Pharmacies with no phone number listed are by online appointment only.

 

Pharmacies in St. Charles Parish include:

NOLA Discount Pharmacy of Destrehan 

3001 Ormond Blvd, Destrehan

985-307-0800

https://www.nolapharmacy.com/locations/destrehan-location

 

Oschner Pharmacy and Wellness

13100 River Road, Destrehan

985-240-4610

https://www.ochsner.org/locations/pharmacy-wellness-destrehan

 

Pharmacies in St. John the Baptist Parish include:

Medicine Shoppe #1030

 

**UPDATE: The Medicine Shoppe’s vaccinations have been allocated to the elderly residents of Place Dubourg in LaPlace. Ochsner patients in the area may call 844-888-2772 to schedule an appointment. **

70 Dominican Drive, LaPlace

985-652-1245

https://laplace.medicineshoppe.com/contact

No pharmacies in St. James Parish were listed.

According to a Q&A provided by St. James Parish Hospital, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (made up of nonpolitical, leading public health and medical advisors) is responsible for advising the CDC on population groups and circumstances for vaccine use. This advisory committee determines the order of vaccine allocations when the supply is limited.

On Dec. 1, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that health care personnel and long-term care facility residents be offered the COVID-19 vaccination first (Phase 1a). On Dec. 20, the committee updated interim vaccine allocation recommendations to include that, in Phase 1b, the COVID-19 vaccine should be offered to those ages 75 years of age or older and non-health care frontline essential workers. In Phase 1c, the vaccine would also be offered to those ages 65 to 74, those age 16-64 years with high-risk medical conditions and other essential workers not included in Phase 1B.

St. James Parish Hospital has a COVID Info line at 225-258-2090 with the latest vaccine information. More information will be published on social media and on the hospital’s website at sjph.org.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that there are currently two vaccines authorized and recommended to prevent COVID-19 in the United States. The vaccine available at select pharmacies in Louisiana is known as Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. It is administered through a shot in the muscle in the upper arm and requires two shots spaced 28 days apart.

The COVID-19 vaccine should be offered regardless of whether an individual has already had a COVID-19 infection. However, anyone currently infected with COVID-19 should wait to get vaccinated until their illness has fully resolved and the isolation period has ended. Since this virus is new, it is uncertain how long antibody immunity lasts after a recent infection.

For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html.