mayln@lopers.unk.edu
COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in Nebraska. Hy-Vee and Walmart’s pharmacies have begun offering vaccinations for eligible persons.
Hy-Vee and Walmart’s local pharmacies are distributing COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible Nebraskans. Hy-Vee Pharmacy started offering COVID-19 vaccinations March 3. Eligible Nebraskans are allowed to schedule appointments through Hy-Vee’s website. Those currently eligible for vaccination at Hy-Vee include pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, school staff and workers in childcare programs, residents who are 65 years or older and healthcare workers that work face-to-face with patients.
Walmart received the Moderna vaccine and is allowing eligible Nebraskans to schedule an appointment through their website as well. Those deemed eligible for the vaccine at Walmart include persons ages 65 and older, healthcare workers, emergency medical services, grocery workers, transportation, public transit workers, first responders, corrections officers, law enforcement, food and agricultural workers, educators and staff of licensed child care providers. This includes center-based and family care providers as well.
As vaccines become available to Nebraskans, government officials have advocated for eligible Nebraskans to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
In a press conference Wednesday, Governor Pete Ricketts said, “This vaccine is safe and effective, and if you get it, it’s going to help prevent, make sure that you don’t end up in the hospital and don’t have those severe consequences — up and to the point of even dying.”
Nebraska’s disease experts expressed the importance of vaccination in the fight against COVID-19.
“It’s really important to vaccinate as many people in the community as possible so we keep the infection rate down,” said Renuga Vivekanandan, infectious disease physician at CHI Creighton University Medical Center to the Lincoln Journal-Star.
For more information and to register for a COVID-19 vaccine, Nebraskans should visit the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services’s website, dhhs.ne.gov. For further assistance, contact the Nebraska COVID-19 Vaccination Info Line toll-free at (833) 998-2275.
