Tennessee has updated its scheduled rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, including moving teachers into a higher priority category.
The current rollout is focused on health care workers, including in-patient providers, first responders, and staff members and residents of long-term care facilities. The vaccine is being offered through employers, health departments or a hospital.
The state also has a concurrent plan to vaccinate residents based on age, starting with people 75 and older. The age-based vaccinations will be rolled out through 10-year age brackets. Piercey said people age 75 and older should call their local health departments to schedule an appointment to receive the vaccine.
Groups that will be offered the vaccine after the initial phase include teachers and staff members of childcare centers and K-12 schools, other first responders not covered by the initial rollout and people 16 or older who have high-risk health conditions.
Health officials said the state has received 170,000 doses of the vaccine and 90,000 have been administered. That doesn’t include tens of thousands of doses set aside for distribution in long-term care facilities.