RALEIGH, NC (AP) – North Carolina’s chief public health officer said on Tuesday that most asylum workers refuse to take the coronavirus vaccines offered in a state that has now become one of the slowest the country to put doses in people’s arms.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, attributed part of the slowness behind the implementation to the lack of staff, unfamiliarity with the state’s technological systems and logistical obstacles to working with dozens hospitals and 100 different municipalities in the state.
His comments were made shortly after the governor announced on Tuesday that he would send members of the National Guard to speed up dose administration.
“We have a decentralized system in North Carolina,” said Cohen. “We have 83 local public health departments, 100 counties. We are very proud of that, but when you decentralize things, it creates slowness. We are trying to find the right balance to recognize the strengths in our local areas, but also to recognize where the challenges lie. “
Roy Cooper, the newly re-elected Democratic governor of North Carolina, wrote on Twitter that ensuring vaccines are given to individuals “is our top priority right now.”
“We will use all the necessary resources and personnel,” wrote Cooper. “I mobilized the NC National Guard to provide support to local health providers as we continue to increase the rate of vaccinations.”
The North Carolina National Guard said in a press release that it mobilized approximately 50 employees in support of anticipated demand requests from state partners and county health departments. The Guard will be operational this week, according to the press release.
Nearly 110,000 people in North Carolina received their first dose on Tuesday morning, according to data from the state health department. Almost 500 people received a second dose.
The administration of initial doses, to date, represents less than 1% of the state’s population of 10.5 million people. Data collected and shared by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, it placed North Carolina as the sixth worst state in the country in first dose vaccination per capita. Kansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Arizona scored worse.
Cohen noted that the vaccine’s hesitation among the long-term care team is “worrying”, given the anecdotal reports the state has collected so far. North Carolina is working with Walgreens and CVS, which are responsible for vaccinating residents and workers in long-term care settings, to access and report hard data. She believes North Carolina is experiencing something similar to an estimate that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine made last week, noting that about 60% of employees in long-term care settings have refused vaccination.
“I warn you that it is anecdotal, but we are definitely hearing that more than half (are) decreasing (the vaccine), and that is worrying,” said Cohen.
According to the state’s COVID panel, nearly 166,000 doses of vaccine have been allocated to long-term care facilities in the state as of Monday. Of these, 13,338 doses were administered.
Still, demand across the state far exceeds the weekly available supply of 120,000 doses that North Carolina expects to receive this month from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Cohen said some of the members of the National Guard will serve as vaccinators, while others will assist local health departments with logistical processes for people to enter and ensure that they remain masked and physically distant from each other.
Hospital staff were the first in line to receive the doses and some remain unvaccinated due to limited supplies. Starting on Wednesday, a small number of counties will begin administering doses to elderly people aged 75 and over.
The high level of demand has raised concerns about equity and justice, especially as some local health departments ask residents to make an appointment online. Appointments can be completed quickly and those with less digital skills or who live in rural communities without broadband access can be left behind.
“We continue to have structural inequalities in our system that are just embedded in how we operate as a government (and) how we operate as a medical system,” said Cohen. “There are people who have access and who don’t. I think we need to recognize it and then build systems that can try and overcome it. “
Although North Carolina health officials are slow to put doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the arms of residents, there are similar problems in other states.
Federal health officials fell far short of their goal to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of December. The CDC said Tuesday that more than 17 million doses were distributed and 4.8 million people received the first dose.
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Anderson is a member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.