Robbinsville – With the pause in administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine lifted in North Carolina and across the country, the Graham County Health Department will receive 100 doses of the vaccine this week.
During the Graham County Board of Health meeting Monday, Graham County Health Director Beth Booth confirmed that the county would receive the vaccine. The announcement comes following a pause on the administration of the vaccine in April, after six women presented with a rare form of blood clot after receiving the shot.
“We will be getting our first doses of the Johnson & Johnson this Thursday, and we will be doing our first clinic,” Booth said.
The health department will also continue to offer the two-dose Moderna vaccine it has offered since vaccines first became available to the public.
So far, the Graham County Health department has administered 3,164 COVID-19 vaccinations. Booth emphasized that this figure does not include vaccines administered at the Tallulah Health Center or at Walgreens.
“The total for the county is much higher than that, but that’s how many we’ve (the health department) vaccinated so far,” Booth said.
The health department is currently conducting first doses of the Moderna vaccine on Thursday and second doses on Wednesday. She said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would also be administered on Thursdays.
Booth also said that the health department was soliciting a new free testing provider after OptumServe pulled out this week. Booth said the company had pulled out following issues with Graham County Schools over its site in the Robbinsville Elementary School parking lot.
“As of right now, we don’t have a free option for the sendout tests,” Booth said. “We are still testing with the rapid tests if you are symptomatic, but for mailout tests, the urgent care and Tallulah are the options right now.”
She emphasized that both Smoky Mountain Urgent Care and the Tallulah clinic charged for their mail out tests, while the OptumServe tests were free of charge.
“We will be revisiting with the state on having a new vendor come in to provide that service,” Booth said. “However, the school is not going to offer their site again, so if we find another vendor, we are – as a county – going to have to decide where we want to put them.”