Raleigh, NC – On Monday, teachers and school staff in Group 3A of the North Carolina vaccine distribution can register to receive a vaccine in Wake County.
Each county will distribute vaccines to school and day care workers differently, and vaccinations are expected to start on Wednesday. Starting on Monday, people who wish to register for a vaccine in Wake County can visit wakegov.com/vaccine to complete an online application form or call the vaccine hotline 24/7. week, at number 919-250-1515.
People will have to answer “yes” to one of the following questions to register:
- Are you 65 or older?
- Are you a health professional?
- Do you work in a day care center or in a school from pre-primary to 12th grade?
- Do you have to be in person at your workplace?
As soon as sufficient vaccines are available, people on the waiting list will be contacted by email, phone or text. They can then make an appointment online or over the phone to get the vaccine. The second dose consultations will be scheduled at the first consultation.
North Carolina has vaccinated elderly people aged 65 and over and residents and long-term care workers for months.
In early February, Governor Roy Cooper said that all K-12 school staff and anyone working at the daycare center will be eligible for vaccines starting February 24. All other “essential” frontline workers, such as police, fire and grocery workers, will have to wait until March 10 to start getting vaccinated.
The Group 3 subdivision on the state’s vaccination priority list is necessary, the governor said, to balance the limited vaccine supply with the large number of frontline workers in the state.
North Carolina receives only 150,000 doses of the vaccine each week from the federal government, and the state has about 240,000 public school employees.
Previously, state officials said they had no plans to split Group 3 into smaller units and to prioritize some professions over others. But Cooper said that putting teachers in front of Group 3 was simply pragmatic.
“There has been concern about all these essential frontline workers in a large group, in Group 3, suddenly colliding with the system, that this would be problematic,” he said. “Starting with a smaller number of essential frontline workers in Group 3 helps providers to streamline vaccine delivery.”
Group 3 may be subdivided in the coming weeks, depending on the flow of vaccine to the state, the governor said.
State Secretary for Health and Human Services, Dr. Mandy Cohen, said providers can go to schools or the workplace to administer vaccines, or they can designate a specific day of the week when only educators or other health care workers. ahead can receive vaccines. The state’s vaccination tracking system will soon allow employers to upload employee information to pre-register them, she said.
Cohen warned, however, that the February 24 and March 10 eligibility dates do not necessarily mean that people will start receiving vaccines at that time. Some counties have long waiting lists for people in Group 1 or Group 2 still waiting for their vaccinations – the Wake County list has more than 80,000 people, for example – so teachers and other frontline staff will have to wait their turn , she said.
Wake County Public Health is vaccinating approximately 2,000 people a day, by appointment only, at its three mass vaccination sites – PNC Arena, the Wake County Public Health Center and the Wake County Commons Building. Vaccines are also available from Duke Health, UNC REX and WakeMed Health and Hospitals, along with some local pharmacies.
Find out how to get a vaccine in your region.
WRAL Capitol Bureau chief Laura Leslie and WRAL anchor / reporter Adam Owens contributed to this report.