North Dakota lays out plan of action regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and provide updates with the current vaccine information.

On Dec. 14, 2020, North Dakota received its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines to be distributed to residents. Since then, about 162,000 vaccines have been administered according to health.nd.gov.

North Dakota’s plan marks three main priority groups of people that will receive the first rounds of the vaccine.

In Phase 1A, health care providers and long-term care residents make up the first group to receive the vaccine.

Phase 1B, in order of priority, includes older individuals, people with underlying health conditions, other congregate settings, child care workers and employees of preschools and k-12.

The last group, Phase 1C, will distribute the remaining priority vaccines to essential workers and people at any age of increased risk of contracting the virus.

Each phase has a detailed list of who is included under each phase on health.nd.gov.

According to U.S. News, Sanford Health in Bismarck began vaccinating some of its patients eligible for phase two at the beginning of January 2021.

The coverage rate for different age groups is tracked and updated Monday-Friday of every week on health.and.gov’s vaccination dashboard. Since the beginning of the vaccination process, 5.4% of 19 to 29-year-olds and 55.0% of 80-year-olds and older received the vaccine.

Across the state, there are 400 enrolled provider sites that are allowed to administer the vaccine. With the exception of Billings and Slope, each county has at least one provider site. Cass county currently has 69 enrolled provider sites.

Thrifty White Pharmacies across North Dakota are now receiving vaccine doses as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program according to the Bismarck Tribune.

North Dakota is also receiving a 5% increase in the number of vaccines that are allocated each week. The state now receives 7,500 instead of 6,900 doses each week.