Raleigh, North Carolina – Approximately 83,000 doses of the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine began arriving Wednesday in North Carolina in North Carolina, giving counties more options as they try to vaccinate as many people as possible.
The state Department of Health and Human Services said the vaccine would initially be targeted at providers in 33 counties, including seven in central North Carolina.
Wake County plans to distribute its 5,500 doses among dozens of pharmacies and medical offices in the coming days in an effort to push the vaccine to every corner of the county. The county has more than 130 approved vaccination providers, but only a couple dozen have been vaccinated in recent weeks due to limited supply.
“We thought, can we find a way to help get them in a game?” said Ryan Jury, who oversees the county’s vaccination efforts. “The easiest way to do that was to say,‘ Hey, here you have 50 doses or 100 doses. Why don’t you get your feet wet and start vaccinating and you don’t know how you can be a part of this vaccine movement? “”
In Durham County, the county health department plans to split its 1,400 doses among private school employees at a large vaccination event and marginalized communities through a partnership with North Carolina Central University and St. Louis University. Joseph AME Church.
Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease expert at Duke University Health System, said one of the benefits of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is that it only requires one shot. Existing Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are two-shot regimens.
Duke Health received 5,000 doses of the new vaccine.
“I think it actually gives us a lot of flexibility,” Wolfe said. “We [will] find our target populations in which it is logistically difficult to return or achieve them for the second shot. “
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine also does not require cold storage, unlike the other two vaccines.
“We can move it more easily to our healthcare system or to peripheral clinics,” Wolfe said.
Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease expert at UNC Health, acknowledged that some people have expressed reservations about the single vaccine because clinical trials showed it was less effective than the two vaccines in preventing people from getting COVID-19.
“We have to be thoughtful about how to do this,” Wohl said about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to people.
UNC Health plans to use 3,600 of its vaccine doses at an educator-only clinic scheduled for March 8-10 at Chapel Hill’s Friday Center.
Wolfe said people will not be able to choose vaccines when they go to get their shot.
“If you try to expect what you perceive to be a better vaccine, it will take you a while to get exposed to COVID,” he said. “I don’t think we have to tie knots to think which one is better than the other. The better is who you can access.”
Wohl said he finally hopes to see widespread acceptance of the single-dose shot.
“This vaccine works really well in preventing the most serious disease, and that’s why we really want to get a vaccine,” he said.
Durham Veterans Affairs Department Hospital participated in trials for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Their role was completed on Wednesday when 400 doses arrived at the hospital.
“It’s really exciting to see something we were involved in to determine safety and effectiveness [of] it suddenly materializes and can be offered to veterans, “said Dr. Christopher Hostler, head of public health at Durham VA Hospital.” It’s great to have a third weapon in our arsenal against this pandemic. “
Maggie Hanna, head of pharmacy operations associate, said the VA plans to use the single vaccine to reach home veterans and those living in rural areas.
Other suppliers of areas receiving Johnson & Johnson doses include the following:
- OptumServe, a state-sponsored vendor in Durham, got 3,000 doses for a series of appointments over several days.
- Vidant Health in Greenville received 12,000 doses, 2,000 more than requested by officials there.
- Dunn’s Betsy Johnson Hospital receives 1,000 doses.
- Pinehurst FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital receives 1,100 doses.