The CDC Vaccination Dashboard shows that North Carolina gave the first dose of the vaccination to 966 per 100,000 people.
“It’s probably going a bit slower than we thought,” 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’m not exactly sure where the problems are, whether it’s record keeping or something. As far as I understand, we do have the vaccine. It’s just a matter of the sites for people to actually get the vaccine. to get. “
Q&A with a North Carolina doctor: When will the general public be able to get the vaccine?
Due to the limited supply, vaccinations in North Carolina are staged, and health officials say it will likely be well into the spring when the general public can get the vaccine. Currently, North Carolina is in Phase 1a, which includes health professionals, medical personnel and first responders who deal with COVID-19 patients, and long-term care personnel and residents.
A spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday that some vaccine providers will begin Phase 1b on Jan. 6, but most will begin Jan. 11.
NCDHHS has a dashboard that is updated once a week with vaccines administered by the state. So far, the dashboard shows that 63,571 people have received the first dose. However, NCDHHS said the data on their dashboard does not include vaccines being administered in long-term care settings, and they know more vaccines are being administered than are currently shown in the weekly report.
An NCDHHS spokesperson also said on Monday that in order to increase the rate of vaccination, NCDHHS has sent a letter to all hospitals and local health departments to warn them that future vaccine allocations will be changed based on the number of vaccines administered to them. the state.
When can you get the COVID-19 vaccine? Find out where you are in line
“It’s almost impossible to get it in the right place at the right time, so the fact that we’re doing it within a few months of the start of the coronavirus, instead of 5-10 years, is 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 provided feedback to the state on the distribution of the vaccine. “We know hiccups will come. We know there are certain people who think they should get it faster or sooner. ‘
ABC11 contacted Triangle hospitals to find out how many doses of the COVID-19 vaccine they administered. Duke Health has administered more than 10,000 doses. They started on the second dose on Sunday, along with the administrations of the first dose. UNC Health has vaccinated more than 13,000 employees to date. The second dose for early recipients is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
Nearly 4,000 WakeMed employees have received their first dose of the vaccination and an additional 1,200 employees will be vaccinated between Monday and Friday (first dose). They started administering the second dose this week.
Dr. Apolinario explained 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 hospitals that will deliver the vaccine at the time. The vaccines in the pipeline, they can all be provided in doctor’s offices where we don’t need special refrigerators to keep them colder than current vaccines,” so distribution will be more widespread. We’re looking at conversations with churches, we’re looking at primary care offices of course. “
Dr. Apolinario and Dr. Taylor both work with COVID-19 patients and received their first dose of the vaccine. Dr. Taylor said he will get the second dose on Friday.
“The first dose didn’t bother me at all,” said Dr. Taylor. “I had no pain in the area. I had no fever, really had no symptoms at all from getting the first dose. As far as I understand, people who get the second dose have a little more of a local reaction. more muscle pain around the injection site, but that’s about it. “
Former FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan told ABC11 via email that North Carolina is addressing vaccine distribution through a public health approach and that the divide the state is facing at this point in the rollout is not that unusual.
In Wake County, they have received a total of 3,085 Pfizer vaccines, and 1,065 have been delivered as of Monday morning.
Former health director Dr. Leah Devlin was on the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee
attributes much of the problems to inadequate vaccination and said it’s important for people to listen to the news and notice when it’s their turn.
“We have an effective vaccine that is great. We have a plan to introduce that vaccine. Every week the vaccine arrives in our state. There will eventually be a vaccine for everyone in North Carolina who wants 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, your family, your friends, and listen to when it gets to you. It’s time to go get that shot, “said Dr. Devlin.” We’re here, we’re going to have most of the population immunized by the summer, so that’s really great news, “said Dr. Devlin.
Copyright © 2021 WTVD-TV. All rights reserved.