The state has shifted its policy toward vaccinating people from across the state, saying vaccine providers no longer need to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to people who do not live, work or spend a significant amount of time in North Carolina not.
The move follows a shift in U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines last week – guidelines that, according to top health officials, once required vaccines to take all entrants, provided they comply with the state-approved vaccine plan.
The NC Department of Health and Human Services said 2.72 percent of the first 1.1 million first doses administered in North Carolina go to non-residents. That’s just under 30,000 shots.
It is not clear how many of the people traveled to North Carolina to get the vaccine, as opposed to working here or staying in the state long-term, even though they have a home address elsewhere. But there are some indications of ‘vaccination tourism’, with people crossing North Carolina just to get a chance.
George Allen, a former governor of Virginia, traveled an hour from Virginia Beach to Elizabeth City on Friday to get his chance. Tweeted about the trip, post photos on social media.
“Like many neighbors from VA Beach, we find NC much easier to get COVID vaccination,” he wrote. “My family is happy, relieved. Now go to Popeye’s.”
R. Battle Betts, director of the Albemarle Regional Health Service, whose organization oversees public health in and around Elizabeth City, said ARHS initially turned up about 2,000 people from outside the state to take their shots, in part because North Carolina and Virginia had different requirements for admission. .
“This has since been rectified and should alleviate the problem going forward,” Betts said in an email. “As for the demographics, I do not believe it was a prosperity issue because there was a wide variety of people for service from all parts of VA.”
North Carolina officials have been saying for weeks that they cannot turn away out-of-state vaccine seekers because the vaccines are paid for by the federal government and supplied to each state. But the CDC’s leadership on this shifted last week, and state officials confirmed Monday that North Carolina will move with them, although local health departments, hospitals and pharmacies that offer shots appear to have the final say.
“It is permissible to offer no vaccine to temporary travelers who do not live, work or intend in North Carolina,” DHHS spokeswoman Sarah Lewis Peel said in an email. “This may include persons traveling briefly through North Carolina or coming to North Carolina for the primary purpose of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine and then returning to another state.”
It was not immediately clear whether other neighboring states would follow suit. Health departments in South Carolina and Tennessee told WRAL News on Friday that they have no residency restrictions, and Tennessee set its percentages outside the state in the same neighborhood as North Carolina: about 3 percent.
Health departments for the other two states bordering North Carolina – Virginia and Georgia – did not immediately respond to questions, but the Georgia health commissioner has said publicly that the state is not trying to prevent the practice, although it has border crossings “irresponsible and selfish.”
North Carolina was notified of the CDC’s shift early last week.
“A state may decide that protecting the public health of its residents requires that vaccinations be restricted to state residents and not temporary travelers who do not reside in the state,” a link with the CDC’s coronavirus team told DHHS, in an email later provided to WRAL News. . “This would be allowed under the CDC’s grant conditions, as long as the policy aims to promote public health objectives, such as achieving priority populations and promoting equality.”
Asked about the previous policy, DHHS provided an email chain from January. Initially, a local link with the CDC said it depended on the states. But two days later, on January 8, it was made clear: “Since federal vaccine is purchased with federal funding, the jurisdictions should not place restrictions on the administration to non-residents as long as the patients meet the current criteria.”
Health experts say that in some cases it makes sense to offer vaccinations across provincial and state borders. Even during the discussion of the latest policy shift, DHHS said “all North Carolinaers will benefit from as many eligible people as possible getting vaccinated as quickly as possible.” The department also said that people who work in North Carolina or receive ongoing health care here should be vaccinated here if they want to.
Betts said he has no problem with Virginians from border provinces coming to North Carolina for their shot.
“You can certainly make a viable argument that border parties can possibly serve each other without borders, because there is a reasonable mix in daily life anyway,” he said. ‘The real thing was that people were trying to get from Richmond and north. I believe it goes beyond everyone’s reasonable expectation. ‘