NC campuses are helping distribute COVID vaccines with clinics and ultra-cold freezers
Public universities across North Carolina are stepping up to get more COVID-19 vaccines to more people as the state is lagging behind others in its rollout.
Several UNC System universities are setting up vaccination clinics, and 15 of them will start storing and distributing COVID-19 vaccine vials with new ultra-cold mobile freezers.
The UNC System’s six historically minority-serving institutions received the first of 62 freezers scheduled to arrive at campuses over the next couple months. The mobile freezers are about the size of a large beach cooler and can plug into a car to keep the interior temperature as low as -112 degrees Fahrenheit for safe storage of the vaccines.
The new freezers will increase North Carolina’s cold-storage capacity by 1.86 million two-milliliter vials, which will help the state get coronavirus vaccines to more people, more quickly. Each vial holds six or seven doses of the vaccine.
The first two freezers were delivered to UNC Pembroke to assist Robeson County last week.
Universities set up vaccine clinics
North Carolina recently expanded its COVID-19 vaccine eligibility, making vaccines available to anyone age 65 and older and all health care workers. Several problems have slowed the vaccine rollout, and the demand has been much higher than the available supply in most areas in the first couple weeks of vaccine distribution, The News & Observer previously reported.
North Carolina has vaccinated more than 450,000 people against COVID-19, and a mass vaccination site at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Friday Center is a critical part of the state’s efforts.
The UNC System is working with the state health and public safety departments and county health departments to set up vaccination clinics at universities, using UNC-CH as a model.
Western Carolina University, UNC Pembroke and North Carolina A&T will host the first public vaccination clinics on their campuses through that partnership. They should open in the next two to three weeks and will operate at least through the spring semester, according to Norma Houston, chief of staff for UNC System President Peter Hans.
“These are not pop-up sites ... we’re in this for the long haul,” Houston said. “We’re moving quick, but moving strategically with our partners.”
All the UNC system campuses have volunteered to set up vaccination sites and are essentially waiting in line to do it. Houston said the system is intentionally focusing on underserved and rural areas as well as minority populations for these clinics, which is why the first three sites were chosen.
She said they’re hoping NC A&T, the largest HBCU in the country, can help build trust with the African-American community. Appalachian State University in Boone, Elizabeth City State University and N.C. State University are also priorities for vaccination distribution centers.
The Mountain Area Health Education Center is establishing a clinic on UNC-Asheville’s campus to distribute vaccines, and Vidant Health is doing the same at East Carolina University in Greenville.
Hans said this is a “heavy and complicated lift,” particularly as universities are welcoming back students and faculty for the spring semester.
“It’s a great reminder that the UNC System is a resource for the whole state,” Hans said. “We’re doing everything in our power to bring this awful pandemic to an end.”
Duke University Health System was one of the first to start vaccinating people in the Triangle, including patients and employees. This week, Duke Health and Durham County Public Health opened an appointment-only vaccination site at Southern High School, which will see about 200 people daily.
The university itself has not set up as a mass vaccination clinic, but Duke Health plans to set up more clinics as there is high demand in Durham, with a waiting list of patients.
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UNC System expands COVID-19 vaccine storage
UNC System universities are also storing more than a million vaccine vials with new freezers purchased by the NC Policy Collaboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Executive Director Dr. Jeffrey Warren explained the project and showed off the freezers at a UNC System Board of Governors committee meeting Wednesday. He said this effort, called Operation Deep Freeze, is an important example of the public service part of their mission.
“This is the type of collaboration that makes us all stronger,” Warren said.
Local public health agencies, hospitals and pharmacies will be able to access the vials stored in the freezers.
Each UNC System institution will receive at least two large freezers and one small freezer, except for the UNC School of the Arts and the N.C. School of Science and Math.
N.C. Central University in Durham will have four large freezers and three smaller ones.
Campuses that serve rural areas and under-served populations, including HBCUs, are getting two large freezers and extra mobile freezers to support those communities.
Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina A&T University, UNC Pembroke and Winston-Salem State University will each have three mobile freezers. Appalachian State University and UNC Asheville will receive two mobile units.
The UNC System was expecting the freezers to arrive in February and then through March and April, but were able to work with Stirling Ultracold, the manufacturer of the freezers, and VWR Scientific, the sales representative, to get them out faster. Now, the freezers will be delivered to institutions as soon as they are available.
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 5:22 PM with the headline "NC campuses are helping distribute COVID vaccines with clinics and ultra-cold freezers."
