North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday visited Piedmont Health SeniorCare in Pittsboro to gather ideas about how to help overcome the reluctance of some to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The federally qualified health center that administers doses with an emphasis on serving racial and ethnic minority groups said it first worked to overcome hesitancy within its own ranks through greater education.

“One of the first things that we had to do was to build confidence with our staff,” said Misty Drake, the 43-year-old chief operating officer at Piedmont Health. “There was a lot of hesitation just with our frontline staff … We actually started with a town hall where it was a multidisciplinary group of team members that talked about the science.”

After gaining increased buy-in from staff, it became easier to boost participation in an underserved community.

“It’s easy for us because we’re already servicing marginalized communities and they trust us to be able to give them the right information that they need in order to make the best decision for themselves,” Drake told Cooper.

Since vaccines first became available in the state last month, only 11% of first-dose recipients have been Black, according to state data. U.S. Census data shows that racial group accounts for 22% of the state population. Hispanics account for 10% of the state population but just 2% of people who have gotten their first dose. Meanwhile, white people have gotten 82% of the vaccine supply, despite representing 71% of the population.

In a brief news conference with reporters after the conclusion of his tour, Cooper acknowledged the state needs to do more to replicate the success that the health center in Pittsboro has seen.

“We try to make sure that these vaccines are being distributed equitably, and we wanted to come and see that,” Cooper said. “A lot of it is established trust that these doctors and nurses and staff members have already established.”

Reginald Tyson, a 50-year-old pastor at Big Zion AME Zion Church in Oxford, spoke with Cooper during the tour. He believes hesitancy is driving the lack of vaccinations among Black people. Tyson got vaccinated last week and said he’s seen skepticism among relatives who want to see others vaccinated first to ensure it is safe.

“One of the things that they are saying is that their caution is due to the fact that they want to see the results or impacts of people who have already gotten it,” Tyson said. “I think here at Piedmont Health they’ve managed to spread the word pretty quickly.”

He said the clinic has done a good job engaging with the community through outreach to local churches.

Asked by reporters how the state plans to overcome concerns about racial, ethnic and geographic inequity, Cooper replied, “The entire country has to do better on this.”

Cooper emphasized the state’s desire over the last week to clear its backlog of first doses through large vaccination clinics. One mass event was held last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where nearly 16,000 people got vaccinated. As many as 30,000 people could get vaccinated this weekend at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

“We wanted to make certain that we got all of our first doses off the shelf, and the state had gotten a little behind on that, particularly when we were concerned that we might have our allocations cut, which would be bad for everybody across the board,” Cooper said. “We could not tolerate that.”

With the backlog mostly exhausted now, Cooper said the state will work harder to ensure vaccines are getting into the arms of people in minority communities.

“We need to really concentrate on the equity piece, which is one of the reasons why we are here today.”

Cooper and state Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen learned that a South African variant of the virus has hit its southern neighbor. They said they are acting as if the variant is already here.

“While we have not yet identified that variant here, just like with the U.K. variant, we’re operating as if it’s here already because we knew that this virus moves fast,” Cohen said.

 

Photo via AP Photo/Gerry Broome.

 

Related Stories
‹
Gov. Cooper: Remaining Essential Workers in Group 3 to Become Vaccine-Eligible on Wednesday
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper shared updates to the state’s coronavirus vaccination efforts Tuesday, saying essential workers in Group 3 will become eligible to make appointments beginning on Wednesday. The announcement comes nearly one week after prioritized education personnel in Group 3 became eligible to make appointments for vaccination across North Carolina. Around 240,000 people, […]
Biden Admin To Administer 3,000 Daily Vaccines in Greensboro
The White House announced Friday morning that it will include North Carolina in its federal pilot program of community vaccination centers. Starting March 10, a Greensboro site will receive about 3,000 vaccines per day. The timing aligns with Gov. Roy Cooper’s expansion of vaccine eligibility to frontline essential workers. Teachers, child care workers and school […]
North Carolina to Open Vaccines For Teachers on Feb. 24
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday afternoon that educators and support staff will be eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine starting Feb. 24 as part of a staggered rollout of the state’s next phase of distribution. The Democratic governor estimated that about 240,000 people would become eligible for the vaccinations in two weeks. The […]
North Carolina Prisons Offer Incentives for Offenders to Get Vaccine
Most North Carolina prisoners can get five days knocked off their sentences if they receive COVID-19 vaccinations, state corrections officials said on Friday. A package of incentives, which also include extra visitations and a free 10-minute phone call, were unveiled a few weeks after prison leaders said they were considering ways to motivate prisoners to […]
North Carolina Health Officials Say 1,280 COVID Doses Wasted
North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services said on Friday that the state has seen 1,280 of its coronavirus vaccine doses get discarded. “Only 0.1% (or 1,280) of the 1.1 million doses which have entered the state thus far have become unusable for any reason and we have not received reports of significant batches […]
New NC Chief Justice Seeks Vaccine Access for Open Courts
North Carolina’s new chief justice says he’s asked Gov. Roy Cooper to consider getting COVID-19 vaccines more quickly to local court officials to meet a state constitutional requirement that “all courts shall be open.” Speaking at Wednesday’s online installation ceremony for himself and two new justices, Chief Justice Paul Newby said “access to justice through […]
EU Moves Toward Stricter Export Controls for COVID Vaccines
Written by RAF CASERT The European Union is moving toward stricter export controls to ensure that there are more COVID-19 shot supplies for the bloc which should boost its flagging vaccine drive at a time of another surge of the coronavirus pandemic on the continent. The EU’s executive body said Wednesday on the eve of a […]
Astrazeneca: U.S. Data Shows Vaccine Effective for All Ages
Written by MARIA CHENG and LAURAN NEERGAARD AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection against sickness and eliminated hospitalizations and deaths from the disease across all age groups in a late-stage study in the United States, the company announced Monday. AstraZeneca said its experts did not identify any safety concerns related to the vaccine, including finding no […]
A Rapid COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Backfired in Some U.S. States
Written by CARLA K. JOHNSON and NICKY FORSTER Despite the clamor to speed up the U.S. vaccination drive against COVID-19 and get the country back to normal, the first three months of the rollout suggest faster is not necessarily better. A surprising new analysis found that states such as South Carolina and Florida that raced ahead […]
Orange County’s Efforts To Equitably Vaccinate Minority Communities Show Early Success
While several of Orange County’s minority communities have been underrepresented in the COVID-19 vaccine distribution so far, the county’s efforts to mitigate these barriers appear to be effective when compared to those across the state. Despite the African American, Hispanic, and Asian American communities of Orange County respectively accounting for 12.4 percent, 8.6 percent, and […]
›