Rowan County switches to appointment based COVID-19 vaccine distribution

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Rowan County is changing how they administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Officials told Channel 9 starting this week, they will require appointments instead of first come, first serve.

County-by-county guide: Here’s when, where you can get the COVID-19 vaccine

Residents can make their appointment online Monday mornings at 10 a.m. for Rowan County’s Wednesday vaccine clinics.

Health officials said you can also call the COVID hotline at 980-432-1800, but they anticipate an increased call volume and longer wait times.

The health department said they would like to schedule appointments further in advance, but they don’t want to put residents in a situation where the appointment is scheduled and the health department did not receive vaccines, causing appointments to be canceled.

>> CLICK HERE to schedule your appointment online in Rowan County

In a letter to Rowan County residents, Public Health Director Nina Oliver urged “eligible but healthy and willing citizens to hold off vying for appointments slots until more are available.”

“There are about 25,000 that are eligible, and we get shipped 300 doses,” Oliver said. “It’s hard to process. We are trying to focus on getting vaccines into the arms of those who are truly at risk and truly vulnerable.”

The Association of Local Health Directors sent a letter to state health official Dr. Mandy Cohen because they are alarmed about vaccines being diverted to mega sites.

Health directors said that causes inequities for people who can’t travel to a mega site, which could be more than an hour away.

“Unless they ship us more doses, it’s going to be a very, very slow process,” Oliver said.

Oliver said at this rate, it will take six months in Rowan County alone just to vaccinate people in groups one and two.

It is a sudden change for the county.

ALSO READ: COVID vaccine clinic closes after running out of doses within hours of opening

Last weekend, Rowan County health officials told Channel 9 why the “first come, first served” model worked better than the appointments.

They said it allowed them to serve more people faster with less staffing and ensured vaccine doses are used quickly without going to waste.

Statement from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services:

“Our local partners have been working tirelessly to ramp up and vaccinate people as quickly as possible under difficult circumstances. As of Sunday evening, 88% of all first doses have been reported as being administered. Providers reported administering more than 260,000 doses this past week.

“As of this morning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranked North Carolina 10th in total vaccines administered and 29th in vaccines administered per 100,000 people. These numbers were achieved by three actions the state took, including facilitating large-scale vaccination events, asking providers to aggressively ramp up their vaccine throughput this past week with any needed support from the state and working with many providers to stand up special events reaching underserved communities.

“NCDHHS will be sharing tomorrow more detailed guidance on the process for allocations for the coming weeks to ensure more transparency and certainty now that the state has largely exhausted the backlog of vaccine supply.”