[ad_1]
Chapel Hill, North Carolina – In central North Carolina, professionals speaking on behalf of major hospital systems expressed frustration with the COVID-19 vaccine award on Monday.
“We didn’t get as many doses as we would like this week,” said Chris Tart, vice president of professional services at Cape Fer Valley Health. Tart said his organization requested 10,000 doses and got half that number.
Alan Wolf, spokesperson for UNC Health, said: “UNC Health has received fewer COVID vaccines than expected for this week, resulting in fewer scheduled vaccination appointments.” Wolfe said UNC Health’s 10,000 dose allocation was “less than half” of the planned allocation.
In Orange County, the situation is even more dire. “Orange County, for the third week in a row, has not received a shipment of first doses. We have depleted our supply of first doses and will only be doing second doses this week,” spokesperson Todd McGee said.
The Wake County Health Department only received 975 doses for delivery this week, but requested between 3,000 and 4,000, spokeswoman Stacy Beard said.
So where does all this go? The state is recalibrating how it distributes doses in anticipation of mass vaccination events, but none of these are yet scheduled in the Triangle.
This is something that Durham resident Maggie Hite would love to see.
“I don’t think a hospital can do much,” she says. “They have a limited staff. I think the mass vaccination sites would be a good idea. We really need the mass vaccination sites because so many of us are waiting.”
Christian Cleavland, also of Durham, agreed.
“I think the biggest priority should be to get the most hits from the most weapons,” he said.
“It’s really a question of supply and demand,” Dr Ian Buchanan, president of UNC Health of ambulatory and post-acute care. “We are very aware of the anguish this causes to anyone who is eligible now to receive a vaccine and not get an appointment or who spends hours online trying to get one. “
According to Beard, the state of North Carolina tells counties at the end of each week how much vaccine they will receive for the following week.
“We don’t set a date on purpose until we know how much the state is going to send us,” she said.
“We don’t want someone to come to Wake Public Health for a date, excited and ready to be able to get this life-saving vaccine, and then they come and we go,” she said.
“It’s a little frustrating for all hospitals, all state partners and CDC because it’s hard to plan week after week,” said Tart, of Cape Fear Valley Health.
County Durham, Duke University Health System and UNC Health practice a similar process. All say they won’t have to cancel appointments scheduled for this week and only plan to book appointments for one week at a time, leaving people with just a few days to plan. .
“UNC Health does not cancel or postpone any appointment,” said Wolf. “UNC Health schedules immunization appointments each week based on the supply received.”
In Cape Fear Valley, Tart said he was cutting back on the operation of vaccination clinics.
“We have made a limited number of visits each day to our sites, but we will not be able to do so this week due to the decrease in supply,” she said.
Each county in North Carolina distributes vaccines differently, and state health officials have said it’s okay to cross county lines to get the shot. People aged 65 and over and other eligible groups who still need a vaccine can call the state’s COVID-19 vaccine hotline at 1-877-490-6642 or visit covid19.ncdhhs.gov / findyourspot.
[ad_2]
Source link