North Carolina is behind on administering COVID-19 vaccines

In the last month, nearly 1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has been sent to North Carolina, however only one-third of those vaccines have been administered.

According to the Center for Disease Control COVID-19 Data Tracker, North Carolina is ranked 37

th

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in the country when it comes to the number of administered vaccines in relation to their population.

A survey by N.C. Watchdog Reporting Network shows there are many reasons North Carolina lags behind in the distribution of the vaccine.

Here are a few reasons:

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• Planning is difficult because health departments are notified only one week in advance on how many doses they are receiving.
• The North Carolina Coronavirus Vaccine Management System has been difficult to keep up with in some counties.
• There are limited amounts of vaccines distributed between the counties
• There is a limited amount of healthcare workers.
• Social distancing and facility occupancy guidelines limit the number of patients a healthcare worker can see per day.

As of last week, North Carolina has established 10 sites around the state which will each hold 45,000 doses in an attempt to combat the backlog of vaccinations in the state. The state has also expanded Phase 1 recipients to anyone over the age of 65, as opposed to 75 and older.

Although the recipients considered to be in Phase 1 has increased, the supply has not. This is causing many people in the active vaccination groups long wait times to receive the vaccine. Some, having to travel to other counties.

North Carolina health and government officials are continuing to solve the problems related to the vaccine starting with pulling the North Carolina National Guard to get involved in the distribution process.