Tallulah – Even as doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are diverted to large-scale vaccination clinics in North Carolina’s largest cities, Graham County Health Department Director Beth Booth said Graham County had not yet seen an impact.
Booth said that the county had been promised its normal 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine a week for the next three weeks, although no promises had been made any further than that.
She said the state received a certain number of doses, but that those that were not spoken for in advance by health departments and hospitals would be released to large-scale vaccination events, like one held recently at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, where approximately 14,000 people received the vaccine.
“Any extra vaccine goes to those clinics or mass vaccination clinics,” Booth said.
She said she believed the clinics did have a negative impact on the state’s smaller counties, but that she was not surprised at the situation. She also pointed out the Graham County Health Department did not have the resources for such an event.
In a past interview, she listed the number of staff at the health department as one of the limiting factors for the number of vaccines the county was able to administer.
“We’ll just have to keep vaccinating at the rate we’re vaccinating and eventually, we’ll get to everybody,” Booth said.
The Associated Press reported that the state is shifting its vaccination strategy toward the larger vaccination centers, frustrating some hospitals that have had their allotments of vaccine shorted as a result.
Some across the state have had their vaccine appointments pushed back as a result. WLOS reported Monday that Macon County (Franklin) has seen its delivery numbers cut to 300, and that over 3,000 residents were on Macon’s wait list.
Thus far, Graham has been blessed.
“We got the same allotment that we did get,” Booth said. “We’re very lucky.”
However, the Associated Press reported in a later article that Mandy Cohen – North Carolina Secretary of Health and Human Services – said the providers who received less than their planned allotment would soon receive more vaccine.
Under the state’s plan, 84,000 first doses will be guaranteed for counties, based on their populations. The remaining 36,000 doses in the state’s weekly allotments will be used to balance out distributions to counties and increase access to minority groups.
Booth said the county’s vaccination campaign was still going strong, with 679 first doses and 20 second doses administered as of Monday. She said those who had received their first doses had been returning for their second dose appointments. The Moderna vaccine used in North Carolina requires two doses, administered 28 days apart.
She also said people were still scheduling appointments for their first dose.
“We’re booked out for the next two weeks,” Booth said.
Publisher/editor Kevin Hensley also contributed to this report.