All good? In latest twist, DHEC to again ship vaccines to Horry County government

After several weeks of back-and-forth, it now appears that Horry County and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control are on good terms, and that shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine will resume to a county-run vaccination clinic.

That means members of the public have one more option when seeking a vaccination provider: Horry County Fire Rescue, operating out of the M.L. Brown Public Safety Building.

In a call with reporters on Friday, Nick Davidson, DHEC’s senior deputy for public health, said that a miscommunication between the county and the state agency led to a confusion over whether or not the county would receive future vaccine shipments. Davidson said that a DHEC employee “mistakenly informed” Horry County that the agency would ship additional first doses of the vaccine to the county in the coming weeks. What DHEC should have told Horry County, Davidson said, was that the county could continue to accept appointments for first vaccine doses, to vaccinate the public from its existing supply, but that it wouldn’t be receiving more first vaccine doses.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines, the two most widely distributed in the United States currently, require each person to receive two doses.

That confusion prompted Horry County officials on Thursday to send out a statement indicating that DHEC was continuing to pause its vaccine shipments to the county, seemingly as a result of an earlier clash between the two entities over who the county was vaccinating.

“We remain frustrated by the lack of ability from SCDHEC to consistently communicate with vaccine providers in the state,” county officials said in the statement. “We are not alone, and we find it necessary to speak out.”

But on Friday, Davidson clarified that the county was no longer cut off from future vaccine shipments. In fact, he said, the county is due to receive 2,200 second doses of the Moderna vaccine next week, which will allow Horry County Fire Rescue to vaccinate a total of 3,800 people.

Horry County Fire Rescue, the county agency made up of firefighters and EMTs that’s administered the vaccine program, has received 3,800 first doses of the vaccine and 1,600 second doses. The county first offered those doses to all of its employees, and then to members of the public who fit the state’s criteria. Throughout its program, the county has said that anyone it offered a first vaccine dose to would receive a second dose. The county is currently working its way through 818 vaccine appointments made by members of the public, and Davidson said Friday that next week’s shipment will help the county fully vaccinate those people.

Once the county administers its current supply of vaccines, plus the 2,200 second doses coming next week, Davidson said, it will be able to request future shipments from DHEC if it chooses to continue to run a vaccine clinic out of the M.L. Brown Public Safety Building.

“(If) they want to talk about being a community provider, we’d be happy to entertain a discussion with them, just like we would with anybody of course, about them continuing to be, or moving ahead with being, a community provider,” Davidson said.

The conflict between Horry County and DHEC originated in mid-February when WMBF News published an email from the Horry County human resources department sent to all employees that said all county employees, including interns and volunteers, were eligible to receive the Moderna vaccine through Horry County Fire Rescue. The Sun News then learned that the county amended that policy to allow “designees” or “plus-ones” of county employees to also schedule vaccine appointments. Through that policy, two employees in the Recorder of Deeds office scheduled vaccine appointments for elderly parents and County Council member Harold Worley said he brought an elderly friend to receive the vaccine through the county.

At the time, South Carolina was administering the vaccine under Phase 1a, meaning that residents aged 65 and up, most medical professionals and “mission critical” government employees. In communications sent to the county, DHEC said it had concerns that the county was vaccinating people “out of phase,” as Davidson put it Friday. The county responded to DHEC that it had designed its vaccination program with input from DHEC officials and that it believed it was following all appropriate guidelines. In a follow-up communication, DHEC told county officials that government employees like police officers were not considered “mission critical” and instead fell under Phase 1b. As a result, DHEC told the county that it would no longer provide vaccine shipments to Horry County Fire Rescue.

As the county continued to vaccinate its employees and South Carolina moved to Phase 1b, meaning residents 55 and up, younger people with certain medical conditions and front-line workers could get vaccinated, Horry County opened up vaccine appointments to the public, and quickly signed up 818 residents.

In communications this week, DHEC “mistakenly” told Horry County that it could again receive first doses of the vaccine for its public vaccine clinic, prompting confusion. Davidson said Friday that the two entities are in good standing again and are moving forward. With the understanding that it would not be receiving first doses, Horry County said Thursday that it would close its vaccine clinic after it finishes the current appointments, though that announcement appeared subject to change if the county was able to receive more vaccines.

Kelly Moore, a county spokesperson, declined to comment on the situation Friday.

“Horry County is a great partner of ours,” Davidson said. “...they have assured us that they are vaccinating and have been vaccinating and will continue to vaccinate within the recommended phases and we certainly appreciate that. I do regret the statement that we made to them”

He added: “We said that we were going to (provide more first doses) but unfortunately what we should have indicated through our staff member is that it was fine to schedule those appointments. So that was a misunderstanding, we should not have conveyed that to them.”

But, Davidson said, “we will definitely entertain a discussion with them where we can keep them on the list and when we have vaccine we’ll provide it.”

Even though the conflict and confusion between the county and state health agency appears to be dying down, the dispute has rankled some county leaders, according to County Council member Johnny Vaught. In an interview earlier Friday, Vaught said he had recently spoken with Randy Webster, the county’s assistant administrator for public safety, and that Webster had grown frustrated with the situation. He knows Webster to be a “by the book” person, Vaught said, and believes Webster directed his staff to follow all DHEC guidance regarding the vaccine exactly as written. Vaught said he, too, was frustrated.

“It’s so frustrating with these people. It’s been mass confusion as far as state DHEC is concerned,” Vaught said. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.”