CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina public health officials held a news conference on December 10th to announce details on how the COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed in the state. Officials say the state could start receiving vaccines in the next few days.
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen says more than 70,000 people participated in clinical trials and testing with these vaccines to make sure they were effective and safe. Preliminary data shows the vaccines are nearly 95% effective for preventing COVID-19 with minimal safety concerns, according to Cohen.
She also said there is no actual COVID-19 virus in the vaccines themselves, instead, the vaccine imitates the infection so our body thinks a germ like the virus is attacking and this creates the antibody defense we need to fight off COVID-19 if and when the real germ attacks.
Cohen says some people may have temporary reactions to the vaccine such as swelling at the injection site or tiredness.
Here is what to expect for the vaccine in North Carolina:
Eleven hospitals in North Carolina currently have the capacity to store the vaccine for an extended period of time. Forty-two other hospitals will then receive a shipment of vaccines stored by using dry ice.
See a full list of the hospitals that will receive the vaccine and the amount of doses they will receive HERE.
The federal government will determine how many vaccines go to each state based on population. Cohen says they expect to receive 85,800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in this first shipment.
The initial supply of vaccines will go to healthcare workers at high risk of exposure to COVID-19. As more vaccines become available, the vaccines will then be sent to more of the states’ hospitals and health departments, according to Cohen.
Once hospitals have vaccines, they will stagger the administration of the vaccines to staff because officials already know that some people may have temporary reactions to the vaccine so the staggering with help avoid any potential staffing challenges, says Cohen.
You can watch the entire news conference here:
News Release From The North Carolina Department Of Health And Human Services:
All sites receiving Week 1 allocations are hospitals. The 11 facilities receiving advance/early shipments are but a portion of the sites included in the week-1 distribution. these 11 facilities have sufficient ultra-cold-storage space to get and hold vaccine pending final authorization. No site will be able to administer vaccine until after final FDA authorization and recommendations from the CDC on who the vaccine is appropriate for approval. And for any reason, should the CDC recommendations be delayed, these 11 facilities will have to continue to hold the vaccine.
After the CDC makes its recommendations, the manufacturer will begin shipping vaccines using dry ice to an additional 42 hospitals in the state. These hospitals were chosen based on bed capacity, health care workers and county population.
The federal government will determine how much vaccine will go to each state based on population. We expect to receive 85,800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in this first shipment. These will be shipped in batches of at least 975 doses. So each location must be able to store this amount in ultra-cold storage or keep the shipping container refilled with dry ice for up to 30 days or use the doses within 10 to 15 days without refilling dry ice. We do not yet know our Week 2 allocations, so we do not have a list of hospitals that will receive Week 2 doses nor how many.
The list of hospitals is attached. A couple of notes:
- This is only week 1. Vaccine is expected to arrive in North Carolina during the week of Dec. 14.
- NC is only allocated 85,800 doses of Pfizer vaccine in Week 1 and they must be shipped in units of 975. Therefore, we had 88 units.
- The allocation was based on acute + ICU beds and then a correction factor of both population and number of healthcare workers in the county to account for places with low hospital beds as compared to overall population.
- Of the 53 initial sites, 11 are the early ship sites which are denoted on the attached in bold. These 11 facilities have sufficient ultra-cold-storage space to get and hold vaccine pending final authorization. No site will be able to administer vaccine until after final authorization by both FDA and ACIP. After final ACIP authorization, likely within 24-48 hours, the remaining 42 week-one site allocations will ship from the manufacturer.
- This is just the first week’s allocation. Because of the minimum ship amounts of the Pfizer Vaccine, we prioritized hospitals where the number of healthcare workers were greater. The Moderna vaccine will be distributed in minimum ship amounts of 100 units, allowing us to further distribute to additional hospitals and local health departments. Our goal has been to ensure vaccine is administered rapidly to those at risk of contracting COVID-19 or at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and minimize the risk of excess supply at any particular provider.
- Week 2 allocations will allow us to get vaccine to more locations and every county in NC.
- In week 2 we are expecting to receive both Pfizer and Moderna vaccine.
More information about the NC COVID-19 Vaccination Plan, including the NCDHHS Interim Update on COVID-19 Vaccine (last updated Dec. 7) and FAQs can be found at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines.
