Chapel Hill, NC – In central North Carolina, professionals speaking for major hospital systems expressed frustration on Monday with the allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We didn’t get as many doses as we would like this week,” said Chris Tart, vice president of professional services at Cape Fer Valley Health. Tart said that his organization ordered 10,000 doses and obtained half that number.
Alan Wolf, a spokesman for UNC Health, said: “UNC Health received fewer COVID vaccines than expected this week, resulting in fewer scheduled vaccination visits.” Wolfe said UNC Health’s 10,000-dose distribution is “less than half” of the expected distribution.
In Orange County, the situation is even more dire. “Orange County, for the third consecutive week, has not received a shipment of the first doses. We have exhausted our stock of first doses and we will only do the second doses this week,” said spokesman Todd McGee.
The Wake County Health Department received only 975 doses to deliver this week, but ordered between 3,000 and 4,000, said spokeswoman Stacy Beard.
So where does all this go? The state is recalibrating how it distributes doses in anticipation of mass vaccination events, but none of them are yet scheduled in the Triangle.
This is something that Durham resident Maggie Hite would love to see.
“I don’t think a hospital can do much,” she said. “They have a finite team. I think mass vaccination sites would be a good idea. We really need the mass vaccination sites, because there are many of us waiting. ”
Christian Cleavland, also from Durham, agreed.
“I think the highest priority should be getting the most shots with the most weapons,” he said.
“This is really a matter of supply and demand,” Dr. Ian Buchanan, president of outpatient and post-acute care at UNC Health. “We are very aware of the distress this is causing everyone who is now qualified to receive a vaccine and cannot get an appointment or spend hours online trying to get one. “
According to Beard, the state of North Carolina informs the counties at the end of each week how much vaccine they will receive the following week.
“We purposely don’t schedule appointments until we know how much the state is going to send us,” she said.
“We don’t want anyone to come to Wake Public Health for a consultation, excited and ready to receive this life-saving chance, and then they get here and we leave,” she said.
“It is a little frustrating for all hospitals, all partners in the state and the CDC, as it is difficult to plan week by week,” said Tart of Cape Fear Valley Health.
Durham County, Duke University Health System and UNC Health practice a similar process. Everyone says they won’t have to cancel appointments scheduled for this week and just anticipate scheduling appointments about a week at a time, giving people just a few days to plan.
“UNC Health is not canceling or postponing any consultation,” said Wolf. “UNC Health schedules vaccination appointments each week based on the supply received.”
In Cape Fear Valley, Tart said they are reducing the way they operate vaccine clinics.
“We have made a limited number of daily visits to our sites, but we will not be able to do this this week due to decreased supply,” she said.
Each county in North Carolina is distributing vaccines differently, and state health officials say it’s okay to cross county boundaries to get a vaccine. Seniors aged 65 and over and other eligible groups who still need a vaccine can call the state’s COVID-19 vaccine hotline at 1-877-490-6642 or visit covid19.ncdhhs.gov/findyourspot.