Chapel Hill, NC In central North Carolina, professionals speaking for key hospital systems have expressed frustration over the award of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We have not received as many doses this week,” said Chris Tart, vice president of professional services at Cape Fer Valley Health. Tart said his organization requested 10,000 doses and received half of them.
Alan Wolf, spokesman for UNC Health, said: “UNC Health has received fewer COVID vaccinations than expected for this week, resulting in fewer vaccinations being scheduled for vaccinations.” Wolfe said the allocation of 10,000 doses of UNC Health is ‘less than half’ of the expected allocation.
In Orange County, the situation is even worse. “Orange County, for the third consecutive week, has not shipped the first doses. We have depleted our stock first doses and will only do second doses this week,” spokesman Todd McGee said.
Spokeswoman Stacy Beard said the Wake County Department of Health received only 975 doses to deliver this week.
Where is it all going? The state is recalibrating how it distributes doses in anticipation of massive vaccination events, but none of them have been scheduled in the Triangle yet.
This is something that Maggie Hite, a resident of Durham, would like to see.
“I think a hospital can do just as much,” she said. “They have a limited amount of staff. I think the mass vaccination sites would be a good idea. We really need the mass vaccination sites badly because there are so many of us waiting.”
Christian Cleavland, also from Durham, agreed.
“I think the biggest priority should just be getting the biggest number of shots in most arms,” he said.
“It’s really a question of supply and demand,” said Dr. Ian Buchanan, UNC Health President of Outpatient and Post-Acute Care. “We are very aware of the anxiety that causes everyone who is now eligible to receive a vaccine and cannot. Get an appointment or who spends hours online trying to get one.”
According to Beard, at the end of each week, the state of North Carolina tells counties how much vaccine they will get for next week.
“We deliberately do not plan appointments until we know how much the state is going to send us,” she said.
“We do not want anyone to come to Wake Public Health for an appointment, excited and ready to get the life-saving opportunity, and then they come here and we are gone,” she said.
“It’s a little frustrating for all the hospitals, all the partners for the state and CDC, because it’s hard to plan week to week,” said Tart of Cape Fear Valley Health.
Durham County, Duke University Health System and UNC Health are pursuing a similar process. Everyone says they do not have to cancel the appointments scheduled for this week and will only schedule appointments for about a week at a time, which people only need to plan for a few days.
“UNC Health is not canceling any appointments,” Wolf said. “UNC Health plans vaccinations every week based on the stock received.”
In Cape Fear Valley, Tart said they are scaling back the way they operate vaccine clinics.
“We have taken a limited number of walk-ins on our sites every day, but will not be able to do so this week due to the decline in supply,” she said.
Every province in North Carolina distributes vaccines differently, and state health officials have said it’s okay to cross counties to get a vaccine. Senior citizens 65 and older and other eligible groups who still need a vaccine can call the state’s COVID-19 vaccination hotline at 1-877-490-6642 or visit covid19.ncdhhs.gov/findyourspot.