Goldsboro, NC – While most of the Triangle is still in Phase 1A, vaccinating health workers and people who live and work in long-term care institutions, other North Carolina counties are in Phase 1B and were vaccinating essential and elderly workers at 75 years or older on Wednesday.
What do you need to know
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has designated an order of priority to ensure that the most vulnerable people are vaccinated first.
Because the vaccines come from the federal government, the state is distributing vaccines to hospitals and county health departments.
According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, North Carolina is among the slowest states to receive vaccines.
The most recently
10:30 am: Alamance County residents over 75 can start lining up at 12:30 at the Career and Technical Education Center located at 2550 Buckingham Road in Burlington.
The county will administer a limited and defined number of vaccines starting at 1 pm, based on the order of arrival.
9:45 am: Two lines of people waiting for vaccines were curled up in the Halifax Community College parking lot. One line contained people aged 75 and over, and the other was mainly made up of essential workers. People in line said they had been waiting for at least an hour.
9:30 am: Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville has started dispensing elderly people aged 75 and over, saying the clinic has run out of coronavirus vaccines. The clinic opened at 9am
9 am: Registration for COVID-19 vaccines opened in Wayne County, at the Maxwell Center in Goldsboro. The Cape Fear Valley Medical Center vaccine clinic within the hospital’s rehabilitation center is also opened.
8:45 am: WRAL reporter Indira Eskieva was unable to find queues in Wilson County, which asks people to make an appointment over the phone and then come to a website in person to register and receive the vaccine at the same time.
8:30 am: The Nash County Health Department said it will host a COVID-19 drive-through vaccination clinic at 1 pm Thursday at Nash Central High School. It will be the county’s first vaccination in Phase 1B.
7am: Alamance County administered more than 400 vaccines on Tuesday and started offering more to seniors aged 75 and over on Wednesday at the Center for Technical and Vocational Education in Burlington.
6 a.m: At 6 am, the elderly lined up outside the Maxwell Center in Goldsboro for the chance to register for one of the 550 COVID-19 vaccines available in Wayne County this week.
Dozens of elderly people aged 75 and over were in line hours before the 9 am registration event. Only a few brought chairs, probably not anticipating that there would be such a long wait. The long queue, the temperatures in the 30s and social distance made it difficult to wait for the elderly population.
Public information officer Joel Gillie said: “We certainly knew that the demand would be high, but we had no way of knowing that people would be waiting anytime soon … we have a limited supply and we will receive more doses soon. To make an appointment today, we will have more applications available. “
To get the first round of coronavirus vaccines, people aged 75 and over in Wayne County need to apply to secure an appointment to receive the injection.
Consultations can be made in person on Wednesday at the Maxwell Center at 3114 Wayne Memorial Drive in Goldsboro and on Thursday from 9am to 12pm at Peggy M. Seegars Senior Center.
People visiting a registration site must bring their identity and insurance card. The vaccine will be available free of charge, regardless of insurance coverage.
Authorities said that of the more than 100,000 people living in Wayne County, fewer than 600 will have a chance to be vaccinated in the coming days.
Vaccines may start at noon on Wednesday in Wayne County.
In Wake County, elderly people aged 75 and over are still waiting for coronavirus vaccines, as the focus remains on vaccinating health professionals and people who live or work in long-term care facilities.
In other counties outside the Triangle, including Cumberland and Wayne, vaccinations or applications are in progress.
On Wednesday, a clinic at the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center will begin vaccinating people aged 75 and over at 9 am. The hospital is emphasizing to the public that vaccine supply is limited. Authorities said they hope to reach capacity very quickly and are likely to have to refuse people.
The Cape Fear Valley vaccine clinic held a “soft launch” on Tuesday at the rehabilitation center in 1638 Owen Drive.
Seniors who wish to attend Wednesday’s clinic at the same location must arrive at 8:30 am at the latest and follow the signs indicating the event’s parking lot.
Vaccines will be given on a first-come, first-served basis and not everyone will be vaccinated due to demand.
Also on Wednesday, the COVID-19 vaccines will be administered at UNC Health Southeastern in Lumberton between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm. Patients need to schedule an appointment.
The launch of the vaccine for seniors 75 and older has been slow across the state, and many in Wake County are wondering when they will be able to get the vaccine. At 2 pm, Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, is expected to provide an update on vaccination plans.
A new hotline on the COVID-19 vaccine will also be launched on Wednesday.
County by county vaccination plans
The state Department of Health and Human Services has created a phased system to vaccinate North Carolina residents against the coronavirus:
Phase 1A: Health professionals who care for patients with COVID-19 and employees and residents of long-term care facilities
Phase 1B: Group 1 includes people aged 75 and over. Group 2 includes other health professionals and “essential” workers, such as first responders, teachers, postal workers, industry workers and supermarket workers, aged 50 and over. Group 3 includes other health professionals and essential workers aged 49 and under.
Level 2: Group 1 includes people aged between 65 and 74 years old. Group 2 includes people between the ages of 16 and 64 with medical conditions, such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease, which put them at greater risk of complications from COVID-19. Group 3 includes inmates and others in group life settings. Group 4 includes essential workers who have not yet been vaccinated.
Phase 3: College students and high school students aged 16 or over.
Phase 4: Everyone
