#GIANT EAGLE VACCINE REGISTRATION#
The phone registration appointments were gone an hour later. A limited number of appointments were set aside to be made by phone Monday for those without internet or computer access. Hours after the sign-ups opened, all the online appointments had been booked via the chain’s scheduling tool, Giant Eagle officials said. Giant Eagle last week announced the three-day clinic in partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers. “I haven’t been going much anywhere anyway, and this isn’t going to change anything, really,” said Henderson, 71, who became the first of his family and close friends to get a vaccine shot. They included everyone from front-line health care workers in their 30s, to 92-year-old Pauline Napolitano of Monroeville.Īs he headed toward the distribution line inside Heinz Field’s PNC Champions Club, Dennis Henderson of Hanover, Beaver County wasn’t emotional but rather eager to “get it over with, check it off the list.” Recipients flocked to the stadium on Pittsburgh’s North Shore from across Western Pennsylvania, including not only Allegheny but Westmoreland, Butler, Beaver and other neighboring counties. “I kept checking to see when the (Giant Eagle) site went live, and I got in there right away and just picked the first spot that I found.” … I was constantly checking all the different sites,” Andres said. “I tried for a long, long time like everybody else. Pennsylvania began distributing vaccine doses to primarily health care workers in late December and expanded to more priority groups in early January.
The opening of the clinic - nearly a month after the NFL offered up Heinz Field along with other stadiums nationwide as potential vaccination sites - was welcome news for those who have been trying unsuccessfully to get a vaccine in the region. “So relieved to maybe start getting a life back again.”Īndres was among about 4,000 people who managed to secure online appointments via Giant Eagle for a vaccine clinic this week. And after several bleak winter weeks of trying to book an appointment with any provider she could find, the 63-year-old Harrison woman managed to get her first dose of a covid-19 vaccine.
Those eligible for the third shot include people receiving cancer treatment, organ transplant recipients, stem cell transplant recipients, those with advanced or untreated HIV infection and people with other immunodeficiency disorders.Debbie Andres had reason to smile beneath her purple mask Tuesday afternoon as she strolled outside Heinz Field and prepared to drive home. The third dose is helping people with weakened immune systems reach the level of immunity others reached with the traditional two-dose regimen. In August, the FDA authorized a third dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines as part of the normal vaccination regimen for people with weakened immune systems.īooster shots are for people whose immunity has waned over time. The booster shots are different than the third dose recommended for particularly immunocompromised people. Those who fall within those guidelines can make an appointment at any Giant Eagle Pharmacy location.
That means health care workers and people who live in congregate settings such as homeless shelters or prisons are eligible. People ages 18 to 49 who are at high risk of severe illness because of underlying medical conditions also are eligible, along with those whose occupational or institutional status puts them at a higher risk. The booster shots are recommended for people 65 and older, long-term care residents and people 50 to 64 with underlying health problems. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized booster doses of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine for certain groups of Americans, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded on those groups Friday. The appointment requirement is for any vaccine, whether it is for a first or second dose or a booster.Īppointments can be made online at /response. The grocery store/pharmacy chain had been taking walk-ins for the vaccine, but the appointment requirement is being reinstated because of an “anticipated increase in demand” spurred by the booster shot guidance released earlier this week. Giant Eagle pharmacies once again will require an appointment for anyone seeking a covid-19 vaccine, a spokesman for the company said Saturday.