RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper has mobilized the state's National Guard to help with North Carolina's vaccine effort that is showing delays and logistical challenges just a few weeks into the distribution.
"Ensuring COVID-19 vaccines are administered quickly is our top priority right now. We will use all resources and personnel needed," Cooper wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
Information about the number of Guardsmen and details of their duties and locations has not been provided.
Data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that North Carolinians are receiving their first dose of vaccine at a slower rate than much of the rest of the country. The state's rate of 966 vaccinations per 100,000 people, as of 9 a.m. Monday, was the sixth lowest in the country.
As of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, 109,799 North Carolinians have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to data released by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that have received Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization require two shots to be fully effective, and 461 people statewide have been given both shots.
DHHS cautions that the data is preliminary and reporting can lag by as much as 72 hours. The state only reports updated vaccination data on Tuesdays.
An additional 13,338 people who live or work at long-term care facilities had received first doses from CVS or Walgreens through a partnership with the federal government. The pharmacies have received 165,990 doses of North Carolina's total allocation.
This is the fourth week of a national distribution of vaccines, and states across the country have reported logistical challenges in ensuring the vaccine is available to those who should get it next.
The rollout is happening as the pandemic is rapidly accelerating, both statewide and beyond, with record numbers of people in the hospital for COVID-19.
Last week, North Carolina officials announced an update to the state's vaccination plan. Anyone who is at least 75 years old will be in the first group of the state's updated Phase 1b, The News & Observer reported. Next eligible for vaccine will be people who are at least 50 years old and working as either health care providers or front-line essential workers.
Some counties have started the rollout this week to people in the 1b phase. But Gaston and Mecklenburg counties have reported that vaccine registration hotlines have faced difficulties, The Charlotte Observer reported.
In Mecklenburg, county officials warned that some people haven't been able to get through because of the high number of calls and told people to book online if they can't get through. Gaston officials told residents not to leave more than one voicemail trying to make an appointment.
The North Carolina General Assembly's Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Medicaid and North Carolina Health Choice plans to discuss the state's vaccine plan during its Jan. 12 meeting, said Lauren Horsch, a spokeswoman for Senate leader Phil Berger, in an email.
Speaker Tim Moore's office said in a statement that his office is "working with health committee leaders to ensure this oversight meeting addresses concerns with the distribution expressed by state lawmakers and stakeholders."
Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Winston-Salem Republican, added in a statement: "There are a number of questions about vaccine distribution planning and execution, and we hope that some oversight will result in improvements and advance everyone's shared goal of vaccinating all who want it as soon as possible."
Other counties don't anticipate moving into Phase 1b until next week at the earliest.
Wake County officials have warned that the large number of health care workers in the county means it will likely take them longer to move through Phase 1a than many other places in the state. Phase 1a includes vaccinating front-line health care professionals and those who work with COVID-19 patients as well as people who live in long-term care facilities and nursing homes.
Wake County has not yet decided how people will be able to sign up for vaccination slots, but hopes to finalize the process this week, Leah Holdren, a Wake County spokeswoman, wrote in an email to The News & Observer Monday
"We can't stress enough how little vaccine there is for the population of Wake County," Holdren said. "Right now, there is not enough vaccine to move to Phase 1b just yet."
Orange County is trying this week to wrap up Phase 1a and hopes to enter Phase 1b early next week, said Todd McGee, a county spokesman.
But many details of what that entails have not been explained.
North Carolina has launched a COVID-19 Vaccine Management System that can be used to determine eligibility, but McGee said questions remain about whether recipients are supposed to register with it or only providers.
Orange County's plan includes reaching out to people at least 75 years old who are eligible under Phase 1b, but McGee said he doesn't know how the county would develop that list.
Health departments and hospitals likely will provide the next phase of vaccine in Orange County, but McGee warned that public health workers across the country will need help with the vaccine effort.
"The expectation that county health departments can manage that is ambitious," McGee said. "The more people we have who can give the vaccine should also help us pick up the pace."
McGee pointed to the federal government's lack of involvement in vaccine distribution to explain the lack of details, which has resulted in a state-by-state and county-by-county effort.
"It just seems like it would have been much better off if there were a lot more thought given to this months ago to set this up months ago," McGee said.
(Reporters Lucille Sherman and Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan contributed to this report.)
