Durham County, low on COVID vaccine, stops taking appointments for shots

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Durham County, low on COVID vaccine, stops taking appointments for shots

Mark Schultz

The Durham County Department of Public Health will temporarily stop making appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine because of limited supply.

The county, which just this week announced plans for a mass-vaccination megasite opening next month, has closed its vaccine appointment scheduling line and will not add new vaccination dates, official said in a news release Thursday night.

It could be late February before the county resumes making appointments, the release stated.

“No currently scheduled vaccine appointments will be canceled or postponed, though some appointments beginning Monday, February 1 will be moved from our Health Department location to the Southern High School location,” the release stated. “Individuals whose appointments must be moved to Southern High School will be contacted by phone or email.”

As state Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said during a news conference this week, “the unfortunate reality is that demand is far outpacing supply,” Durham County Health Director Rod Jenkins said in the release.

Triangle counties have substantial spread

According to a DHHS report covering Jan. 3-16, Durham County, along with Wake and Orange counties, was labeled an orange-alert county, meaning it had a substantial amount of community spread.

Durham County had 19,480 total COVID-19 cases and 184 total deaths as of Friday morning, according to the county’s website.

The estimated percentage of positive coronavirus tests from Jan. 10 to Jan. 16, the latest week for which data was available, was 8.4%.

The approved coronavirus vaccines require two shots spaced weeks apart. Durham County expects to get 600 first doses for the next three weeks, “and we are uncertain when our allocation will increase,” Jenkins said in the release.

People in vaccination groups 1 and 2 may still sign up for the vaccine waitlist at tinyurl.com/DCoVaccineWaitlist in English or tinyurl.com/DCoListaVacunas in Spanish to receive a call if vaccine doses become available due to appointment cancellations or no-shows.

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