The Ft. Knox Army base has made substantial progress on getting its allotment of COVID-19 vaccine to patients.
The military installation first began administering the shots it received from the U.S. Dept. of Defense during the opening phases of its campaign on Jan. 6.
Dr. James Stephens, Chief of Preventive Medicine at Ft. Knox, said the Army post had administered 100% of the doses it had received within about two weeks.
"We are getting by-name lists regarding the military especially. We've already gone through several of the lists," Dr. Stephens said. "For the beneficiaries, those people who are active duty service members or family members who are high risk or otherwise, that is what the MEDDAC is working on right now."
The Army is following a two-phase plan, with a focus on first responders, health care workers, and critical infrastructure personnel.
Dr. Stephens said it's unclear when life on the installation will return to normal, given that the vaccine can take weeks to kick in, and they're not sure when more doses will arrive.
"Since we didn't get a large amount the first time, and we still have a great amount of people to do, we'll probably wait a few months until we start really assessing for opening up, and changing all of our service. Just to make sure everybody gets the immunization they requie before we expose everyone once again," he said.
Dr. Stephens added that he believes the Army post can achieve similar efficiency in distributing its next allotment of the vaccine.
