Raleigh, NC – The state has changed its policy on vaccinating people across the state, saying vaccine providers should no longer offer coronavirus vaccinations to people who do not live, work or spend “significant time” in North Carolina.
The move follows a change in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week’s guidance – guidance that senior state health officials said once asked vaccinators to take everyone who comes, provided they comply with the plan. vaccine eligibility levels.
The State Department of Health and Human Services said 2.72 percent of the first 1.1 million primary doses administered in North Carolina were nonresident. That works for just under 30,000 photos.
It is not clear how many of those people traveled to North Carolina just to get the vaccine, as opposed to working here or staying in the state for a long time, despite having a home address elsewhere. But there are some indications of “vaccine tourism,” with people crossing into North Carolina just to get a shot.
George Allen, former governor of Virginia, traveled more than an hour from Virginia Beach, Virginia, to Elizabeth City last Friday to be shot, then wrote on Twitter about the trip, posting pictures on social media.
“Like many VA Beach residents, we find NC much easier to vaccinate COVID,” he wrote. “My family is happy, relieved. She’s going to Popeye’s now.”
Albemarle Regional Director of Health Services R. Battle Betts, whose organization oversees public health in and around Elizabeth City, said ARHS initially deployed about 2,000 people from outside the state to get the shots, in part for that North Carolina and Virginia had different eligibility requirements.
“This has been corrected since then and should alleviate the problem going forward,” Betts said in an email. “Demographically, I don’t think it was a wealth issue, because we had a wide variety of people present for services from all parts of the VA.”
For weeks, North Carolina officials have said they cannot reject people seeking vaccines outside the state because the vaccines are paid for and provided to each state by the federal government. But the CDC’s guidelines in this regard changed last week, and state officials confirmed Monday that North Carolina will change along with them, although it looks like the final words will be local health departments, hospitals and pharmacies offering photos.
“You are not allowed to give the vaccine to temporary travelers who do not live, work or spend significant time in North Carolina,” DHHS spokeswoman Sarah Lewis Peel said in an email. This could include people who are passing through or traveling through North Carolina or coming to North Carolina for the primary purpose of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine and then returning to another state.
It was not immediately clear whether other neighboring states would follow suit. The South Carolina and Tennessee health departments told WRAL News on Friday that they have no residency restrictions, and Tennessee placed its percentage of out-of-state photos in the same neighborhood as North Carolina – about 3 percent.
The health departments for the other two states bordering North Carolina – Virginia and Georgia – did not immediately respond to questions, but the Georgia health commissioner said publicly that the state is not trying to prevent the practice, although he believes it is crossing the border. ” irresponsible and selfish “.
North Carolina learned of the CDC change early last week.
“A state can decide that protecting the public health of its residents requires limiting vaccinations for state residents and not for temporary travelers who do not live in the state,” a link to the CDC coronavirus team told DHHS in an email later. to WRAL News. This would have been possible under the terms of CDC grants, as long as the policy is intended to promote public health objectives, such as reaching priority populations and promoting equity.
Asked about the previous policy, DHHS provided an email chain from January. Initially, a regional link with the CDC said it depended on the states. But two days later, on January 8, this was clarified: “As a federal vaccine purchased with federal funding, jurisdictions should not impose restrictions on the administration of non-residents as long as these patients meet current eligibility criteria.”
Health experts say it makes sense to offer vaccinations in all county and state lines in some cases. Even in the discussion of the latest policy change, DHHS said that “all North Carolinaers will benefit from as many eligible people as possible who receive the vaccine as soon as possible.” The department also said that people who work in North Carolina or receive continuing medical care here should continue to be vaccinated if they like.
Betts said he has no problem with Virginians from border counties coming to North Carolina for shootings.
“You could certainly make a viable argument that border counties could serve each other without borders, as there tends to be quite a bit of interference in everyday life anyway,” he said. “The real problem has been that people are trying to come from Richmond and the north. I think this exceeds anyone’s reasonable expectations.”