Vaccine distribution: Who are considered hospital workers and who will receive the COVID-19 vaccine first in North Carolina?

RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) – At 148 pages, North Carolina’s vaccination plan is full of details that specify who will receive the vaccine when it is distributed.

The distribution will be broken down into four phases:

• Phase 1A: healthcare workers and medical first responders who are at high risk of exposure to the virus. Staff in long-term care facilities are also part of this priority group. (Estimated population: 140,000 to 161,000 people)
• Phase 1B: Residents of long-term care facilities, people with two or more chronic illnesses, also called co-morbidities, who live in and outside collective living spaces such as prisons, prisons and migrant camps – including residents of these places who are over the age of 65, frontline workers with at least two co-morbidities, and staff in collective living spaces. (Estimated population: 587K-790K people)
• Phase 2: All other residents of collective residences, firefighters and police, food packaging, preparation and processing workers, manufacturing workers, construction workers, transport workers , some retail and grocery workers, child care workers, adults with chronic illnesses, people over 65, and school and college / university staff K-12 . (Estimated population: 1.18 to 1.57 million people)
• Phase 3: Energy / telecommunications workers, water / waste / energy operators, all other retail workers, religious leaders and other member associations, students from kindergarten to Grade 12 and colleges / universities (estimated population: 574 to 767,000 people)
• Phase 4: all other people not identified in phases 1 to 3 (estimated population: 3.6 to 4 million people)

During Tuesday’s COVID-19 press briefing, Dr Mandy Cohen and Governor Roy Cooper said North Carolina had requested to receive the Pfizer vaccine and expected the first distribution to arrive between the 15th. and December 17.

“When you look at how many vaccines the state is going to receive,” said Michelle Ries, acting director of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, “it won’t be enough for the roughly 700 to 800,000,000 people. that fall into the first phase. “

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Ries also sits on the state’s COVID-19 vaccine advisory committee and spends much of her time working with state health leaders on how to deal with the vaccine. The group also assists the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services with vaccine logistics and communications.

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Depending on the plan, a person’s employer, collective housing or school will be responsible for identifying the phases in which a person falls. Additionally, everyone in phase four will identify themselves to medical staff for the vaccine.

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The Pfizer vaccine will be given in two separate doses 21 days apart.
“If you hear a number like 80,000 doses, what we really have to think about is that these are actually vaccinations because everyone will need two doses to be fully protected,” he said. said Ries.

Duke Regional Hospital chief medical director Dr Adia Ross said his staff were ready to receive the vaccine upon arrival.

“We’ve been thinking about it for months,” Ross said. “(Duke), like other healthcare organizations, has been preparing for this for some time and making sure we stay on top of the latest developments and what’s needed.”

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A spokesperson for Duke University Health System said employees in these four categories will not be required to take the Covid-19 vaccine, unlike the mandatory flu shot.

Next week, Pfizer is due to meet with the FDA on its emergency use authorization before the vaccine rolls out. The following week, Moderna will have her turn. Dr Cohen hopes more North Carolinians can get vaccinated sooner if Moderna is approved for EUA.

North Carolina’s vaccination plan was first introduced in mid-October. However, health experts are making constant updates and the document remains in draft form.