NC has updated its COVID vaccine distribution plan. Find out what phase you’re in
North Carolina started receiving doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government in December.
As the vaccine becomes available and the coronavirus continues to spread, North Carolina leaders revamped their plan Thursday to prioritize who will be eligible to receive the vaccine next, including older adults and healthcare workers.
The rollout was initially announced in October but has been adjusted to incorporate new recommendations from an advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But supplies are going to be limited for the next several months, with the state to receive about 120,000 doses a week through the end of January, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, on Jan. 14.
For updates on the vaccine plan, go to YourSpotYourShot.nc.gov.
Go to covid19.ncdhhs.gov/findyourspot or call 877-490-6642 to find vaccination distribution sites.
Updated NC vaccine distribution groups
North Carolina has broken vaccine recipients into five groups. Here’s a look at who will receive the vaccine next, as of Jan. 14
Group 1
North Carolina started vaccinations with healthcare workers and staff who work directly with COVID-19 patients. Long-term care facility staff and residents were also in the first group to receive vaccine.
On Jan. 14, DHHS added any healthcare worker who comes into contact with patients to this group. That includes a wide array of medical personnel and staff such as custodians, dental hygienists, home health workers, nurses, paramedics and physicians, among others. According to DHHS, the definition encompasses any health care worker, paid or unpaid, as long as they work near or with patients.
Group 2
Any adult who is at least 65 years old is in Group 2, no matter what their underlying conditions are or where they live.
Adults who are at least 75 years old and were previously eligible to get a vaccine still can.
Group 3
Frontline essential workers make up this group. DHHS defines a frontline essential worker as someone whose job is essential to society functioning and who is at higher risk of COVID-19 because of that job.
The updated groups no longer prioritize frontline essential workers who are at least 50 years old, with everyone who works at one of these jobs becoming eligible at once.
What is a frontline essential worker? North Carolina is using the definition from the CDC. That includes: corrections staff; teachers and day care staff; first responders, such as firefighters and police; food and agricultural workers; grocery store workers; public transit workers; manufacturing workers; and U.S. Postal Service employees.
Group 4
This is a wide-ranging group that captures several categories of people.
▪ That includes anyone who is 16 to 64 who has an underlying medical condition, which makes them more at-risk for getting severely ill if they contract COVID-19. Conditions that would make someone eligible in this group are the same ones the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists as leading to increased risk from COVID-19.
Those conditions include cancer; chronic kidney disease; COPD; Down syndrome; heart conditions like coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies; an immunocompromised state from an organ transplant; obesity; pregnancy; sickle cell disease; smoking and Type 2 diabetes.
▪ Also eligible in Group 4 are incarcerated individuals, as well as people living in shelters or other group living settings. To be clear, if people living in these settings meet criteria for earlier stages, they would be eligible for vaccination then.
▪ The last group eligible in group 4 is anyone who is deemed an essential worker by the CDC who has not yet been vaccinated. That includes bank tellers, construction workers and public health workers. It also encompasses people working in energy, food service, media, transportation, and water and wastewater.
Group 5
This is the phase where everyone who wants one becomes eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“With the limited supply of vaccine, we think that this could be well into the spring,” Cohen has said previously.
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "NC has updated its COVID vaccine distribution plan. Find out what phase you’re in."