The CDC vaccination scoreboard shows that North Carolina gave the first dose of vaccination to 966 per 100,000 people.
“It’s probably going a little slower than I thought it would be,” said Dr. Dennis Taylor, who treats patients at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem. He is also president of the North Carolina Nurses Association. “And I don’t know exactly where the problems are, if it’s just a record or why. From what I understand, we have the vaccine. It’s just a matter of setting up sites for people to actually get the vaccine. “
Questions and Answers with a North Carolina Physician: When will the public be able to receive the vaccine?
Due to the limited supply, vaccinations in North Carolina are taking place in stages, and health officials say it is likely that the general public will receive the vaccine by spring. North Carolina is currently in Phase 1a, which includes health care workers, medical staff and first responders who work with COVID-19 patients and long-term care staff and residents.
A North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said Monday that some vaccine providers will begin phase 1b on Jan. 6, but most will begin Jan. 11.
NCDHHS has a dashboard updated once a week, which includes state-administered vaccines. So far, the dashboard shows that 63,571 people received the first dose. However, the NCDHHS said that the data on their dashboard do not include vaccines given under long-term care and that they know that there are more vaccines given than are currently in the weekly report.
An NCDHHS spokesman also said Monday that in order to increase vaccination rates, NCDHHS sent a letter to all local hospitals and health departments warning them that future vaccine allocations would be changed based on the number of vaccines given per day. who reported them to the state.
When can you get COVID-19 vaccine? Find out where you are online
“Getting to the right place at the right time is almost impossible to achieve perfectly, so the fact that we do it in a few months from the onset of coronavirus to 5-10 years, we are already ahead of schedule,” said Dr. Arthur Apolinario, who treats patients at Clinton Medical Clinic. He is also co-chair of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee, which has given state feedback on how the vaccine is distributed. “We know there will be hiccups. We know there are certain people who think they should do it sooner or later.”
ABC11 contacted Triangle Hospitals to find out how many doses of COVID-19 vaccine they had given. Duke Health has administered more than 10,000 doses. They started the second dose on Sunday, along with the first doses. UNC Health has so far vaccinated more than 13,000 employees. The second dose for the first patients is scheduled to start on Tuesday.
Nearly 4,000 WakeMed employees received the first dose of vaccination, with another 1,200 employees scheduled for vaccination (first dose) between Monday and Friday. They started taking the second dose this week.
Dr. Apolinario presented what will happen when the vaccine is offered to everyone in North Carolina.
“We will have a wider distribution,” said Dr. Apolinario. “It will not be just the health department and the hospitals that provide the vaccine at that time. The ongoing vaccines all have the capacity to be provided in doctors’ offices where we don’t need special refrigerators to keep them colder than current vaccines. , so the distribution will be more widespread. We look to talk to the churches, of course we look at the primary care offices. “
Dr. Apolinario and Dr. Taylor both work with patients with COVID-19 and have received the first dose of vaccine. Dr. Taylor said he will receive the second dose on Friday.
“The first dose didn’t bother me at all,” said Dr. Taylor. “I didn’t have any pain around the site. I didn’t have a fever, I didn’t feel the first first dose at all. From what I understand, people who receive the second dose have a little more of a local reaction to it, so a little more muscle pain around the injection site, but that’s about it. “
Former FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan told ABC11 in an email that North Carolina is addressing the distribution of vaccines through a public health approach and that the state gap is not so unusual at this time of launch.
In Wake County, they received 3,085 total Pfizer vaccines and 1,065 were given as of Monday morning.
Former State Health Director Dr. Leah Devlin on COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee
attributed a lot of problems to an insufficient vaccine and said it is important for people to listen to the news and write down when it is their turn.
“We have an effective vaccine, which is amazing. We have a plan to put that vaccine in its place. The vaccine gets to our state every week. Eventually there will be a vaccine for every person in North Carolina who is willing to take it, “said Dr. Devlin.
“The light is at the end of the tunnel. I think you heard Dr. Fauci say that, but we’re still in the tunnel, so be patient, protect yourself, family, friends, and listen when it’s time to go and get this shot. “said Dr. Devlin. “We’re there, we’re going to have most of the population immunized by summer, so that’s great news,” Dr. Devlin said.
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