GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine has officially reached North Carolina.
The state received over 83,000 doses of the newly-approved vaccine. Many Triad health departments didn't receive shipments of the vaccine, but some did.
Guilford County received 2,000 doses of the new vaccine this week, while Forsyth County received 9,000 doses.
It's unclear why Guilford County received fewer doses of the shipment when the county's population size is larger than Forsyth County. According to the United States Census Bureau, Guilford County's population size as of July 2019 was 537,174 people whereas Forsyth County's population was 382,295.
Back in January, NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen explained a new vaccine strategy the state would implement in order to increase vaccine equity.
RELATED: Gov. Cooper says NC is focusing on vaccine equity, preparing for more supply from federal government
"We want to see how many doses we're giving per population. We want to make sure we're reaching our historically marginalized populations and we want to make sure we're going with folks who are ready to distribute this vaccine. Again, speed continues to be a priority," Cohen stated.
Dr. Iulia Vann with the Guilford County Department of Public Health said in a briefing dose allocations are not up to local departments.
"We do not decide exactly what those allocations look like and how many of those products we receive each week," said Vann.
WFMY News 2 did reach out to Guilford County Department of Public Health for more specific answers on how the state may have determined the county would only receive 2,000 doses. The department redirected us to state officials, who have not responded to our questions.
Forsyth County Health Director Joshua Swift explained there are three factors the state uses to determine who gets shipments, and how much they receive.
"Each week's shipments are based on population size, how many doses the state receives from the federal government, and throughput which is essentially how much of the vaccine departments are putting into the community," according to Swift.
Forsyth County's 9,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will be shared between the health department, Novant Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health. Novant Health plans to share their portion of the doses with Forsyth County Health Department during a mass vaccination event. The details have not been announced yet.