COVID Vaccine: Governor Cooper Says NC Should Receive Nearly 85,000 Doses Of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine After FDA Approval

RALEIGH (WTVD) – Gov. Roy Cooper said on Tuesday that North Carolina was preparing for the distribution of the highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine as cases and hospitalizations continued to rise.

“Our trends are worrying,” North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services secretary Dr Mandy Cohen said at a press conference Tuesday. “People are going to the emergency room and the percentage of positives is on the rise. Too many people are falling seriously ill with COVID.”

But Cooper said there was hope on the horizon with the potential FDA clearance of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

WATCH: Governor Roy Cooper explains distribution of COVID-19 vaccine

He said North Carolina was preparing to receive the Pfizer vaccine, which requires ultra-cold storage.

“We are a large state with rural areas stretching for hundreds of kilometers,” he said. “Each person is important and we will work hard to overcome the challenges our geography presents.”

Cooper said the state expects to get this version of the vaccine because “Pfizer was the first to see the approvals. So we think that’s what would be available and approved first.”

He said 84,800 is the number of doses the state learned it would receive with the first shipment.

“This is what we are expecting right now,” he said.

Cooper said the shipment will happen as soon as the vaccine is approved and then there will be a second allocation when it becomes available.

“We know that when we have the first vaccine, we will only focus on hospitals,” he said. “It’s with those first 85,000 doses.”

Then the state would focus on people in long-term care facilities.

After that, adults with two or more diseases that put them at risk of contracting COVID-19 like heart disease and diabetes would have access to the vaccine.

Cooper added, “When we have a second vaccine, we will receive weekly doses of both vaccines and we will do the work within our populations that we have prioritized. So we can’t say exactly when we will get to adults with two or more conditions but we believe it will be in January. “

UNC professor and former Wake County health director Dr Leah Devlin sits on the COVID-19 vaccine committee at the NC Institute of Medicine.

Dr Devlin said the committee helped determine who would get the vaccine first. The goal is to vaccinate 75% of the people of North Carolina.

“It’s going to take a while before we can get everyone vaccinated,” Dr Devlin said. “We hope that by the summer we will have enough vaccine for everyone who takes it to get it.”

Dr Devlin stressed the need to reach marginalized, traditionally underserved communities and those who are reluctant to get vaccinated.

“We need to make sure that we are communicating well with the public, priority populations so that people understand the information that this is a safe, effective vaccine and when is it time to mobilize you and make you. vaccinate.

Q&A: Dr Leah Devlin talks about COVID-19 distribution targets in North Carolina

Cooper said state officials earlier expected a vaccine to be in the middle of next week, Dec. 15 or 16.

Additional allocations would occur week after week.

Importantly, the governor has assured residents that the vaccine will be free, even for those whose insurance does not cover it.