CHARLOTTE, NC — Dozens of people who ate food from a northeast Charlotte pizza restaurant lined up Friday for Hepatitis A vaccines. A manager at the Papa Johns on Cambridge Commons Drive near I-485 tested positive for the virus. Customers who ate there between March 28 and April 7 may have been exposed and need to be vaccinated.
“I just don’t feel like… that it’s not Papa Johns’ fault or the individual who contracted it. I feel like they let the public know, and it’s unfortunate that that happened,” said northwest Charlotte resident Cathy Parker.
Hepatitis A symptoms include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, and muscle pain. The Health Department is holding more vaccine clinics over the weekend.
The Health Department will hold public Hepatitis A vaccination clinics on Saturday, April 12 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Sunday, April 13 from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. at Central Piedmont Community College Cato Campus at 8120 Grier Road. The clinic will be held in the Cato 2 Building.
The Health Department location at 2845 Beatties Ford Road will operate extended hours on Monday, April 14 to accommodate walk-in customers and will be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
For the weekend clinics, those residents who ate at the restaurant on March 29 and 30 need to receive their vaccination as soon as possible, as the time for the vaccine to be effective runs out after Saturday, April 12 for the 3/29 group and April 13 for the 3/30 group.
To help expedite the process at the vaccination site, please go to www.meckhealth.org or for Cabarrus residents, www.cabarrushealth.org.
