Selma, NC Despite short waiting times, long hours, organizers are struggling to deplete the COVID-19 vaccine supply at Johnston County’s transit clinic.
A transit clinic for the first doses of the Moderna vaccine at North Johnston High School reported short waiting times and many COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday. Organizers wanted to use all 2,000 doses, but said they were struggling to do so on Wednesday.
No appointment was required for the event at 5915 US Highway 301 in Kenly, which was open to seniors 65 and older, health workers and staff and residents of long-term care facilities. The clinic opened at 08:45 and extended hours to 16:00 after the vaccine was not up, when it would originally end at 14:00.
“They’re basically nothing good if you pierce them. We do not want to open a vial if we do not have enough people to receive a vaccine from the vial,” explained Lu Hickey, Johnston County Public Health Department . information officer.
Dianne Otey, 74, and her husband drove an hour from Fuquay-Varina to Selma to receive the vaccine.
“I’ve been trying online for a month now, and I could not make progress. I even tried the Walgreens app and it crashed,” Otey explained.
Howard Rogers, who lives in Raleigh, also crossed country to receive the vaccine.
‘We are on five different [wait] lists … when we get in touch with them, they say, ‘we’re out,’ Rogers explains. ‘You just have to keep trying [and] be as patient as you can. ‘
Hickey said the county has held vaccination clinics at various locations.
“Typical [the vaccine clinics] they are at high schools because they have a bigger footprint and more space to work with to get more vehicles in, ‘she added. This area is the largest part of our country and what we have been trying to do. [is] to get all the parts of our country, and we’re here again to try to get so many people we could not get the first time. ”
Hickey said the goal is for residents not to have to drive from one side of the province to the other.
‘It’s very exciting to see people come out [and] want that vaccine. We look forward to providing the second doses for the people who come out, ‘she said.
Government officials said Johnston County is struggling to vaccinate communities with color, especially Spanish.
“We’re still in the red zone, but our numbers are going down,” Hickey said.
Another transit clinic opened in Fayetteville at 9 a.m. in the Crown Complex for people who need a first or second dose of vaccine.
In Wilson, a two-dose vaccine clinic was open Wednesday at Fike High School in Harrison Drive 500. The opportunity is for people who have already received their first dose at that place.
Get more vaccination information in your area.
