Meck to open first public COVID vaccine clinic. Here’s who gets the first shots

Mecklenburg County will set up its first public COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Bojangles Coliseum this week.

The vaccine clinic will open on Wednesday for the first time, giving anyone age 75 or older access to the Pfizer coronavirus shot — regardless of their health status or where they live.

The hopeful news of widening access to vaccinations comes as Mecklenburg grapples with a surge of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the aftermath of holiday gatherings. The county has recorded 65,809 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, NCDHHS reported Monday morning. Local health officials say 588 county residents have died of coronavirus-related complications.

Dr. Meg Sullivan, the county’s medical director, told reporters late Monday that Mecklenburg expects to administer 150 to 250 shots a day at the clinic. The clinic will be accepting appointments from 8:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, depending on vaccine supply, Sullivan said.

The state had prioritized health care workers especially at risk of COVID-19 exposure for first access to the shot in Phase 1a.

Now North Carolina is moving to Phase 1b, which means anyone 75 or older will be able to get vaccinated. Phase 1b will operate in three groups, beginning with older adults, due to extremely limited supplies of vaccines.

Appointments are limited due to the tight supply, but more appointments may open up as the county receives more vaccines, Sullivan said.

Atrium Health and Novant Health will also immunize people in Phase 1b, Mecklenburg Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said.

Atrium officials said 7,730 employees in Phase 1a have received their first vaccine shot as of Sunday evening. And Novant Health has administered over 10,300 vaccines to employees as of Saturday, according to the hospital system.

The county will be administering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19, according to a county statement. That shot requires two injections, spaced three weeks apart.

How it works

In groups 2 and 3 of Phase 1b, vaccines will be available to health care workers and frontline workers 50 and older first, and then frontline workers and health care workers of any age. That includes first responders and people who work in agriculture, manufacturing, public transit, education and childcare.

There will be an online sign-up for appointments at the vaccine clinic, according to the county, at mecknc.gov/COVID-19 or https://booknow.appointment-plus.com/83g1hcpv/. Appointment sign-ups start Tuesday at 8 a.m.

The event is by appointment only.

Appointments can also be made over the phone starting Tuesday by calling 980-314-9400 and selecting Option 3.

Last Tuesday, the county announced that Mecklenburg EMS Agency and Mecklenburg fire departments would help the health department administer coronavirus shots.

The health department received its first shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 22, with 975 doses that have since been administered. Mecklenburg received its second shipment last week, with 1,950 doses of the vaccine.

In total, Mecklenburg has administered 1,600 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Saturday night, Harris said.

Mecklenburg is not anticipating any shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, a county spokeswoman said.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, has said vaccines won’t be widely available to the public until this spring.

Phases 3 and 4 are not broken into sub-categories. Phase 3 includes college and university students, as well as K-12 students who are ages 16 and older. The COVID-19 vaccines have not been approved for younger children yet.

The final phase, encompassing most of the general public, may not start until “well into the spring,” Cohen has said.