The Orange County Health Department shared its COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan for residents on Friday, a phased rollout of the drug mirroring that of North Carolina’s health department.

With the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine earning approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration Friday, North Carolina is expected to receive thousands of initial doses. Vaccination, however, will not be immediately available to all people, with Orange County saying it will prioritize health care workers who face regular, high risk of exposure to the virus.

“A tested, safe and effective vaccine will be available to all who want it, but supplies will be limited at first,” Orange County Health Director Quintana Stewart said in Friday’s release. “Although the vaccines were developed quickly, they were built upon years of work in developing vaccines for similar viruses.”

The decision to vaccinate health care workers initially comes from recommendations from independent state and federal public health advisory committees, which both the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and Orange County Health are following. Such health care workers, like doctors, nurses and those who care for coronavirus-infected patients, will be in Phase 1A of distribution.

Phase 1B, of a similar priority, will be residents with two or more chronic health conditions that put them at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and essential frontline workers who face high risk of exposure. The Centers for Disease Control list adults with conditions like cancer, sickle cell disease, Type 2 diabetes and serious heart conditions as fitting this priority scale. Essential workers like police, teachers and health care workers not in Phase 1A will also be able to receive the vaccine during this distribution stage.

Other Orange County residents and North Carolinians will become prioritized following this initial phase, depending on the manufacturing of more COVID-19 vaccine doses. Phase 2 will focus on adults at high risk for exposure to the coronavirus, like essential workers who did not qualify in Phase 1, and adults 65 and older. Phase 3 will be students and critical industry workers. Those in the final stage of distribution, Phase 4, will be anyone who wants a vaccination but did not qualify for the previous phases.

Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Renee Price shared a message of encouragement to county residents on Friday, saying following this distribution plan will help return the community to a new normal.

“Public health and our economy are inseparable,” said Price. “When all of us come together to take the vaccine, we can end this pandemic, and this will lead to a faster economic recovery.”

More information on the NCDHHS vaccine distribution plan can be found on the department’s website. More details on Orange County’s response to COVID-19 can be found on the county government’s website.

 

Photo via University of Oxford/John Cairns and the Associated Press.

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