NORTH CAROLINA, USA — Triad health departments are feeling a sense of relief as more vaccine appointment options become available, It's taking some of the pressure off the few providers that were the first to administer vaccines.
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
Rockingham County saw such a slow down in demand, the health director said he consulted with state leaders to see if they could move to Group 4.
"We had no-shows, cancellations and some of the cancellations would say they’re going elsewhere whether it be a large mega site or smaller clinic," said Rockingham County Public Health Director Trey Wright.
Wright said they had 100 doses leftover one day and knew they had to take action.
"I did ask the state leadership if we felt ready what was the best way to do and one of the biggest things communicated back was talk to your partners. Let them know your intentions so there’s not that pressure added to them because of what you were doing," said Wright, "So I sent out a few emails saying we're seeing a slowing down of scheduling, this is our intention and we went forward from there."
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RANDOLPH COUNTY
Randolph County is also seeing a slow in the time it takes to fill vaccine appointments.
"In the beginning, of course, it was very quickly that we could fill those appointments when we got vaccine, but again we are getting more vaccine in now than we were at the beginning, but we are also finding as of late, maybe the last couple weeks, that it takes longer to fill our appointments," said Randolph County Health Director Susan Hayes.
Hayes said they will continue to follow guidance from the state, but because of the slow down in demand, they're ready to now move into Group 4.
"There are enough folk out there who are high risk in category four. They need access to vaccine who want it so let’s get those folks in and get them taken care of," said Hayes.
Back in February, the Randolph County Health Department was still working to vaccinate age 65 and older when educators and childcare eligibility was announced.
Now, Hayes said they're feeling a sense of relief as appointments take longer to fill, but she worried vaccine hesitancy is playing a factor in that.
"What really worries me at this point because we’re seeing a slow down in demand is vaccine hesitancy playing a picture in this," she said, "We’ve still got a ways to go to get to that herd immunity that everybody’s pushing for."
GUILFORD COUNTY
Guilford County and Davidson County are also seeing more time between the rollout of new appointments, and how quickly it takes them to all fill up.
The Guilford County Health Department said appointments still fill very quickly, especially online, but not as quickly as when appointments first rolled out at the beginning of vaccinations.
Guilford County Health said while they're not seeing a slow in demand, the FEMA site and pharmacies offering the vaccine have provided more options for people to turn to. "This has provided some 'breathing room' with our available appointment slots," the health department said.
DAVIDSON COUNTY
Davidson County Health Department said appointment slots take about 2-3 days to fill, rather than all of the timeslots filling up in just a few hours. More appointment opportunities in the community have likely helped that.
Both Guilford and Davidson counties say they'll continue to follow state guidelines.
To learn more about vaccine groups, visit NCDHHS's website.