Raleigh, NC – North Carolina health officials have adjusted the list of priorities for receiving coronavirus vaccinations to align with recent federal recommendations, officials said Wednesday.
An advisory group for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guide last week, urging people aged 75 and over and “essential” workers to receive the vaccine sooner than they had before.
Because such a large group has been raised in a row, 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 Department of Health and Human Services, he said Wednesday.
Healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients, who started receiving the first doses of vaccine two weeks ago, and residents and staff in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, where vaccinations have been started Monday, remain in phase 1A with group priority.
People over the age of 75 will be in the first phase 1B group – Cohen said this will likely start the week of January 11 – followed by other health workers and key frontline workers – police officers, firefighters, teachers, postal workers, corrections officers, food officials and others are part of this group – over the age of 50. The younger front line workers will be in the final group of phase 1B.
“There could be 2 million people in phase 1B, so it could take some time,” Cohen said.
The Roy Cooper government has said that various health care licensing councils will be providers of disciplines that do not meet the list of priorities when vaccinating people.
“These are broad categories and there will have to be some decisions made locally by the people who administer this vaccine whether or not someone falls into that category,” Cooper said.
“We can’t have people jumping in and having family or friends, board members, donors jumping,” Cohen added.
In Phase 2, people aged 65 to 74 will be in the first group, followed by anyone aged 16 to 64 with a medical condition that puts them at higher risk for complications from the virus. A third group in phase 2 will include detainees and other people living in close groups, followed by key workers who have not been previously vaccinated.
Phase 3 still includes students and high school students over the age of 16. The vaccine is not yet approved for anyone under 16 years of age.
The final phase will include anyone who does not fall into any of the previous groups.
“We need to protect ourselves and each other every day, every week, every month. Vaccines offer hope, but that hope will take a long time to come true,” Cooper said.
Another 8,551 cases of coronavirus were reported Wednesday at the state level. This is more than 100 cases higher than the previous one day, but DHHS officials said the figure was inflated because a technical error delayed data collection on Wednesday, so data worth more than 24 hours was collected.
On Tuesday, the state set a record for people hospitalized with COVID-19, at 3,377. That figure fell slightly on Wednesday to 3,339.
But the percentage of antivirus tests that came back positive was at an alarming 14.8 percent on Wednesday, or about three times the target state officials decided to keep the virus under control.
“I’m very, very worried,” Cohen said, adding that anyone under the age of 40 who recently gathered with someone outside their household “must assume” that they are infected.
Despite the disturbing trends, less than 64,000 people across the country received the first dose of vaccination in the first two weeks of the effort, even though about 230,000 doses were administered to the state at that time.
Nationally, only about 2 million people have been vaccinated – far from the Trump administration’s 20 million goal by the end of the year.
Cohen explained that the effort is a complex process that must be followed carefully. Because vaccines come in units of 100 or more, doses should be planned and scheduled in advance to avoid the potential risk of vaccination.
In addition, hospitals and vaccination clinics are working to increase COVID-19 cases, not to mention last week was a holiday week, she said.
“We know that we are intensifying this week and we will move on to the next phase of vaccination for people aged 75 and over and the following weeks,” she said. “I know there will be a maturation of this process as we move forward. It’s new to us all.”
But many of those seniors who line up for the vaccine say they have no idea how they will get their vaccines.
“I don’t know how to handle it. Certainly not,” said Fred Joyner, 80.
“I don’t know how to do it,” agreed Barbara Dukes, 75.
Cohen said plans to notify and schedule seniors for their photos are still being worked out, and officials hope to have more details by next week.
“As we move into Phase 1B, if you think about how big a group of people over the age of 75 and all our essential front-line workers is, it’s more than a million people and that’s not the number. of the doses we have, “she said.
Dr. Allen Mask of WRAL said seniors – and others waiting to be vaccinated – should keep up with news of the vaccine launch from the CDC, DHHS and local media. They also need to let their doctors know they want to take pictures.
“I would tell people to be patient – there is a plan – but you have to be your best lawyer,” Mask said.
Dukes and Joyner said they both want the vaccine.
“We should take it,” Joyner said. “It simply came to our notice then. We have to take it. ”