New Hampshire will begin setting up 13 vaccination sites around the state next week as several thousand doses of both types of approved COVID-19 vaccines continue to arrive in the state.
Lori Shibinette, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, said Tuesday that the sites are part of the next phase in COVID-19 control but cautioned that it’s too soon for people to ask the state when they can get registered to receive a shot.
“Don’t ask for registrations yet,” Shibinette said.
The state will eventually set up an online registration system, officials said.
The clinics and mobile teams will target high-risk care providers who do not work in hospitals as well as first responders.
Shibinette said that details about future vaccine shipments are still uncertain but she expects approximately 9,000 doses of each of the two vaccines to arrive in the state each week. That should allow everybody in what is known as Phase 1A, including the highest risk health care workers, first responders and long-term care facility residents and staff, to get vaccinated by the end of January.
The details for who will get priority in the next stage, Phase 1B, are still being worked out. Both vaccines require two doses, given about three weeks apart, to provide maximum protection.
Starting Monday, Dec. 28, the state will be publicly releasing vaccine numbers as part of its online COVID-19 reporting, Shibinette said.
The state received its second round of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines Monday and its first batch of Moderna vaccines Tuesday.
State officials said the 8,775 Pfizer doses will continue to be distributed to those in Phase 1A, which comprises more than 100,000 people.
The Department of Health and Human Services predicts it could be six to 12 months before the vaccine is widely accessible to the public.
The first allotment of Moderna vaccines, which were approved for emergency use authorization Friday, were due to arrive Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects New Hampshire to receive 24,200 doses in the initial allotment of the Moderna vaccine.
Last week the state received 12,675 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 300 of which went to Concord Hospital. Chris Fore, the chief quality officer at the hospital, said the hospital had far more frontline workers than vaccines and would rely on future shipments.
Fore said the hospital expects to receive between 500 and 770 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday.
