Durham, NC – Plans for a COVID-19 mass vaccination site in Durham have been suspended.
Durham County Health Director Rodney Jenkins said the state did not provide enough vaccines to the county to support the site, which was to help vaccinate up to 17,000 people a week.
“It’s not the best news we want to hear, but I’m confident that when supplies become a little more robust, they’ll keep coming back,” Jenkins said, adding that planning was just interrupted.
The state of North Carolina, which currently receives 145,000 first doses of coronavirus vaccine each week, said supplies from the federal government are coming too slowly.
On January 26, the Research Triangle Foundation said they would be “happy to host” the site. The site could vaccinate up to 17,000 people a week.
“We will definitely look at mobile tests, but it will depend on the number of vaccines we receive,” Jenkins said. “We can’t do so many things with 1,300 doses.”
Jenkins said that while the state offers an opportunity to get extra doses for events, it needs to be pre-planned and presented.
“You have to present it to consider the additional vaccine and it is not guaranteed,” he explained.
The delay for the Durham mass vaccination site comes days before 2,100 people are vaccinated at PNC Arena in Wake County.