North Carolina will expand its COVID-19 vaccine protocols, offering vaccines to people age 65 and older, said Governor Roy Cooper on Thursday.
The change is intertwined with changes in federal guidelines, adding the group of younger people to those 75 and older that the state has started vaccinating in the past few days.
This would open the vaccine to up to a million more people in North Carolina. This is much more than the state provides for injections, so administration of these doses can take weeks or more.
Cooper, speaking Thursday morning for a virtual meeting of the NC Association of County Commissioners, said more details would come later. The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mandy Cohen, plans a press conference at 2pm.
“We are going to open the criteria for people aged 65 and over,” said the governor. “So, not only will people aged 75 and over be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine now, but … people aged 65 and over will be able to, along with healthcare professionals.”
Cooper asked county commissioners to encourage local health departments, which are handling the logistics for the vaccine, which was slow at first, to use the doses sent as quickly as possible. He asked commissioners to “make this an absolute priority” and said they also need to pressure health departments to register doses administered in the state’s vaccine tracking system.
Health departments have criticized this system as time-consuming and clumsy, but the data sent back to the state is used to determine future vaccine allocations. Cooper encouraged county governments to ask for any help they needed, including appointment scheduling and data entry logistics.
He also asked county commissioners to set a good example, wearing masks and social detachment.
“The next few months will be difficult,” said Cooper. “Regardless of how many people we vaccinate, we know that we will not be able to obtain the immunity acquired for several months. Therefore, our prevention efforts are more important than ever. I ask everyone to give examples. “
He also reiterated the suggestion that they go through local decrees to enforce the mask and other mandates he passed from the state level. Some criticized the governor for sending decrees across the state, but allowing local authorities to enforce them, or leaving them unfulfilled.
“We ask your sheriffs and others to help us with this, because we can save lives,” Cooper said Thursday morning.
WRAL News investigative data reporter Ali Ingersoll contributed to this report.