Enewsletters

Thanks to the success of the Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed, tens of thousands of doses of safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to the states and territories to administer.  So far, more than 31.1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed and nearly 10.6 million Americans have received their first dose.  Just under a million doses of the vaccine have been distributed to North Carolina as of this morning, and according to CDC data almost 260,000 individuals have received their initial dose.

North Carolina is presently administering vaccinations to individuals in Phase 1A of its vaccination plan, which includes health care workers on the front lines against the virus and the staff and residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes.  Providers have also begun to vaccinate individuals in Phase 1B, Group 1, which includes those aged 65 and older.

It is a major challenge to produce the amount of vaccine necessary for 300 million people so supplies in the initial rollout are limited, but vaccine manufacturers are continuing to ramp up production.  Due to the short supply at present, many of you are finding that you have to wait for the vaccine even if you’re currently eligible.  In most cases an appointment is required.  You can use this page to find a vaccine provider in your home county.  Please note, however, because supplies are limited providers on this list may not have appointments available at this time.

Below is a list of vaccine providers and county health departments in the 7^th District you can contact for more information:

• Bladen County Health Department
• Brunswick County Health Services’ Vaccine Information Page
• Columbus County Health Department Facebook Page
• Harnett County Health Department
• Johnston County COVID-19 Information Page
• Johnston UNC Health Care
• New Hanover County Public Health’s Vaccine Page
• New Hanover Regional Medical Center COVID-19 Page
• Pender County Health Department
• Sampson County Health Department

The state of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services website has a Frequently Asked Questions document about the vaccine with a lot of useful information for those seeking to learn more about it.

North Carolina has set up a vaccination dashboard with more detailed data about the vaccination rollout across the state.  (Note: the data on the dashboard is updated twice a week, and does not include doses administered in long-term care facilities by CVS and Walgreens.  This accounts for the discrepancies between the dashboard’s data as of this writing and the CDC’s numbers cited above.)

A safe, effective and widely-available COVID-19 vaccine is the key to fully re-opening our economy and resuming life as normal.  Thanks to the heroic efforts of the researchers, public health officials, and Trump Administration officials as well as career civil servants working together under the auspices of Operation Warp Speed and utilizing the billions of dollars appropriated by Congress, a vaccine is now a reality after many said it would be impossible to achieve in such a short amount of time.  This is the good news story of the century!