Raleigh, NC – North Carolina health officials adjusted the priority list for receiving coronavirus vaccines to align with recent federal recommendations, officials said on Wednesday.
An advisory group at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance last week, asking people aged 75 and over and more “essential” workers to get the vaccine earlier than they would have previously.
Because such a large group has been promoted while the amount of vaccine available remains extremely limited, North Carolina has divided the various phases of the vaccination effort into subgroups, Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, said Wednesday -market.
Health professionals who deal with COVID-19 patients, who started receiving their first doses of vaccine two weeks ago, and residents and staff in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, where vaccinations started on Monday, remain in Phase 1A of high priority group.
People aged 75 and over will be in the first group of Phase 1B – Cohen said this is likely to start in the week of January 11 – followed by other health professionals and essential frontline workers – police, firefighters, teachers, postal workers , official corrections, grocery store clerks and others are in this group – aged 50 and over. The youngest frontline workers will be in the final group of Phase 1B.
“It could be 2 million people in Phase 1B, so it can take some time,” said Cohen.
Governor Roy Cooper said that several health care licensing councils will discipline providers who do not follow the priority list when vaccinating people.
“These are broad categories and there will have to be some decisions made at the local level by the people who administer this vaccine as to whether someone falls into the category or not,” said Cooper.
“We can’t have people skipping the line and having family or friends, board members, donors skipping the line,” added Cohen.
In Phase 2, people between the ages of 65 and 74 will be in the first group, followed by anyone between the ages of 16 and 64 with a medical condition that puts them at greater risk of complications from the virus. A third group in Phase 2 will include inmates and others who live in close group settings, followed by essential workers who have not been previously vaccinated.
Phase 3 also includes university students and high school students aged 16 and over. The vaccine has not yet been approved for children under 16.
The final phase will include those who do not fit into any of the previous groups.
“We have to protect ourselves and each other every day, every week, every month. Vaccines offer hope, but that hope will take time to fulfill,” said Cooper.
Another 8,551 cases of coronavirus were reported across the state on Wednesday. This beats the previous day’s high in more than 100 cases, but DHHS officials said the number was inflated because a technical failure delayed data collection on Wednesday, so more than 24 hours of data was collected.
On Tuesday, the state beat a record number of inpatients with COVID-19, of 3,377. That number fell slightly on Wednesday to 3,339.
But the percentage of virus tests that tested positive was an alarming 14.8 percent on Wednesday, or about three times the target that state officials set to keep the virus under control.
“I am very, very concerned,” said Cohen, adding that anyone under 40 who recently met with someone outside their home “must assume” that they are infected.
Despite worrying trend lines, fewer than 64,000 people across the state received their first dose of vaccination in the first two weeks of the effort, although about 230,000 doses were delivered to the state at that time.
Across the country, only about 2 million people have been vaccinated – well below the Trump administration’s target of 20 million by the end of the year.
Cohen explained that the effort is a complex process that must be monitored carefully. Since vaccines come in units of 100 or more, doses must be planned and scheduled in advance to avoid the potential waste of any vaccine.
In addition, the hospitals and clinics that make the vaccines are also dealing with the increase in cases of COVID-19, not to mention that last week was a vacation, she said.
“We know that we are accelerating over the course of this week and we will move on to the next vaccination phase for our 75-year-olds or older and in the following weeks,” she said. “I know that this process will mature as we go along. It is new for all of us.”
But many of the elderly in line to receive the vaccine say they have no idea how they will get the vaccines.
“I don’t know what to do to get it. Of course not,” said Fred Joyner, 80.
“I don’t know how to figure out how to do it,” agreed Barbara Dukes, 75.
Cohen said plans to notify and schedule the elderly for vaccines are still being worked out and officials hope to have more details next week.
“As we move to Phase 1B, if you think about how big the group of people over 75 is and all of our essential frontline workers, that’s more than a million people, and that’s not the number of doses we have, “she said.
Dr. Allen Mask of WRAL said the elderly – and others waiting for their turn to vaccinate – need to keep up to date with news about the vaccine launch from CDC, DHHS and local media. They also need to inform doctors that they want to take the injections.
“I would tell people to be patient – there is a plan – but you have to be your best advocate,” said Mask.
Dukes and Joyner said they both want the vaccine.
“We should accept it,” said Joyner. “We should accept. We need to accept.”