Durham, NC, United States Plans for a COVID-19 vaccination center in Durham have been suspended.
Rodney Jenkins, director of health in Durham County, said the state did not provide the country with enough vaccines to support the site, which was supposed to vaccinate up to 17,000 people a week.
“It’s not the best news we want to hear, but I’m confident that when the inventory gets a little more robust, it’s going to go on again,” Jenkins said, adding that planning was just interrupted.
The state of North Carolina, which currently receives 145,000 first-dose coronavirus vaccines each week, said the federal government’s supply was coming in too slowly.
On January 26, the Research Triangle Foundation said they “continue to host” the site. The site can vaccinate up to 17,000 people a week.
“We will definitely look at mobile testing, but it will depend on the amount of vaccinations we receive,” Jenkins said. “There’s not much we can do with 1,300 doses.”
Jenkins said that while the state offers the opportunity to get additional doses for opportunities, it needs to be planned and offered in advance.
“You have to offer it for consideration for additional vaccine, and that can not be guaranteed,” he explained.
The delay in Durham’s mass vaccination site comes days before 2,100 people will be vaccinated at PNC Arena in Wake County.