Minnesota opens 24-hour window for those 65+ to register for vaccine

(The Center Square) – On Monday, Gov. Tim Walz announced updates to the state’s efforts to improve COVID-19 community vaccination clinics.

Minnesotans age 65 and older will now have a 24-hour window starting at 5:00 a.m. Tuesday to pre-register for a randomized opportunity to get an appointment.

The website will be open for pre-registering from 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, until 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

Residents may also call the call center at 833-431-2053 from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday for those that are unable to register through the the website.

The state still faces a vaccine supply shortage.

“This is about having the infrastructure in place to be ready when the federal government finally begins to send us more vaccine,” Walz said in a statement.

“Every shot in the arm is another step toward crushing COVID and ending this pandemic. And we’re going to get the vaccine we do have into arms quickly in Minnesota – whether that’s a few thousand doses or many more.”

Signing up for the pre-registration list means you will have a chance to be randomly selected. Registering early won’t increase a participant’s chances of being chosen.

Everyone who is currently on the waitlist from the first week will be automatically pre-registered to be randomly selected for an appointment.

Minnesotans can only pre-register once, and duplicate entries will be removed. Participants can’t gift their appointment to someone else.

If you are selected and cannot use your appointment, another Minnesotan on the pre-registration list will be randomly selected for that appointment.

If you are randomly selected to receive a vaccine this week, you will be notified on Wednesday, by text, email, or phone with instructions on how to finalize your appointment.

Reservationists will make two contact attempts before moving onto the next selected participant.

Appointments are required to receive a shot.

No walk-ins will be accepted.

Minnesotans who make an appointment should arrive at their assigned pilot clinic no earlier than 15 minutes before their appointment.

Only 8,000 vaccine will be available to Minnesotans age 65 and over at the pilot community clinics this week.

Minnesota also announced a mass vaccination pilot event for metro area educators, school staff, and child care providers at the Xcel Energy Center this week.

The state allocated 15,000 Moderna vaccine doses to be injected from Thursday through Monday.

The two other metro area pilot clinics will serve only adults 65 years of age and older this week. In addition to the metro clinic, Greater Minnesota clinics will also continue to serve education and child care workers this week.

School districts, charter schools, tribal schools, and nonpublic school organizations will work directly with employees to secure an appointment through the state-sponsored pilot clinics. Child care programs are randomly selected and will be notified if vaccines are available. Education and child care workers who have questions should work with their employers.

Last week, more than 13,300 Minnesotans were vaccinated at nine community clinics.

As of Jan. 22, 266,985 vaccines have been injected out of the 529,375 doses administered to the state.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 vaccine tracker, Minnesota is 37th in the nation for doses administered per 100,000 people.

Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square