Health Department to receive 300 vaccine doses per week for next three weeks

Published 1:01 pm Friday, January 29, 2021

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The Stanly County Health Department has been allocated 300 vaccine doses to be used for each of the next three weeks, according to Wendy Growcock, public education specialist with the health department.

The shipments should arrive each Tuesday or Wednesday.

The state Department of Health and Human Services updated its distribution plan this week to more efficiently allocate a baseline amount of vaccine to each provider within the three-week timeframe. Previously, counties and other vaccine providers would often receive varying vaccine amounts from week to week.

Vaccines are allocated to each county based on population.

“The distribution strategy has enabled us to plan how many doses we are able to administer each week,” Growcock said. “We hope that supply will soon increase so we can vaccinate our residents more efficiently.”

Growcock also mentioned that the health department is rescheduling vaccination appointments made this week and next.

“Our goal is to honor our current appointments even though they may be rescheduled,” she said. “We appreciate the patience of the community as we work through the vaccine shortage.”

The department received no vaccines this week as allocations instead were diverted to large mass vaccination sites like the ones that have been taking place at Bank of America Stadium and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

As of Thursday, the health department had vaccinated more than 2,800 people with the first dose along with 31 people who have received the second dose.

Around 70 percent of the almost 1.2 million doses sent to the state have been administered, according to DHHS data.

 

 

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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