With the current, limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine, teachers and school personnel may have to wait to be vaccinated despite becoming eligible on February 24.
Last Wednesday, Governor Roy Cooper announced that more North Carolinians will be eligible to receive their vaccine later this month under Group 3 – which includes most frontline essential workers.
Because vaccine supply continues to be limited, and the Group 3 population of frontline workers is so large, the state is moving into this next group gradually. Those working in childcare and schools – such as teachers, bus drivers, custodial staff, and food service workers – will be eligible first starting February 24.
While teachers and other school personnel will soon be eligible for the vaccine, state officials say it’s not likely they will be vaccinated immediately.
Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mandy Cohen, said this initial portion of Group 3 – prioritizing teachers – consists of about 240,000 people. North Carolina only receives 150,000 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine each week.
Even if all first doses went exclusively to teachers and school personnel, Cohen said the vaccination rollout for Group 3 would still not be immediate.
“I want to reiterate that just because folks become eligible on February 24, it does not mean that that is the day you are going to get an appointment,” Cohen said. “In fact, our vaccinating providers may already have longer waitlists for those who are 65 and up and will continue to vaccinate our 65 and up population. So, we know this is going to be a gradual process, we know the supply is low and you’ll see different ways in which teachers and childcare workers are going to access this vaccine.”
Further delays are expected as the state continues to vaccinate Group 1 and 2 residents – including those in healthcare settings and residents 65 and older. As of last week, only 40 percent of North Carolina’s 65 and older population has been vaccinated.
Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Renee Price said while it’s important for schools to reopen for in-person learning, there is concern that moving to Group 3 will prevent higher-risk peoples from being vaccinated and slow distribution.
“It does present a challenge because we still have to get through Groups 1 and 2,” Price said. “We’re still registering people for that and vaccinating them, and vaccines are still in limited supply.”
Earlier this month, the Biden administration said states will receive a five percent supply increase of vaccine – which equates to about 7,500 more doses in North Carolina each week.
While vaccine allocation and supply for the state has continued to increase each week since vaccinations initially began in December, Price said it is still not enough.
As of February 15, only 16 percent of Orange County residents have received their first dose, with eight percent receiving their second. Currently, there are more than 17,000 people on the county’s vaccine waitlist. The Orange County Health Department has received 600 first doses over the past couple of weeks.
“We did have a few weeks there where we had no doses coming to us,” Price said. “That has been rectified. The number is still rather low when you consider the number of people that need to be vaccinated so it does present a challenge.”
In Chatham County, more than 13,000 first doses have been administered to residents – about 17 percent of the county’s population.
Mike Zelek, Chatham County’s Public Health Director, said his department will continue to focus its vaccinations on individuals in Groups 1 and 2, despite the state opening up appointments to those in Group 3.
“Thousands of Chatham residents in these groups remain unvaccinated, and we are exhausting our weekly vaccine allocations to work through these groups as quickly as possible,” Zelek said. “Vaccine supply continues to be the limiting factor, and it is unlikely that we will be able to move to Group 3 as soon as the group becomes eligible per this updated guidance from NCDHHS.”
Across UNC Health, 9,100 first doses of vaccine have been allocated by the state for the week of February 15. That supply of vaccine is a decrease from last week’s allocation of 13,000 first doses. The healthcare system has the capacity to administer more than 35,000 doses a week.
Lead photo via the Orange County Health Department.
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