FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. — More than 3,000,000 coronavirus vaccine doses have been given out across North Carolina. Around 400,000 of that was given out last week alone.
Some of those shots went to nearly 1,300,000 people, roughly 12% of the state's population, who have now been fully vaccinated.
The rapid approach to vaccination is a hopeful step towards going back to normal for folks who are getting their shot. The progress is also just as impactful for those administering the vaccine.
Many of these health care workers remember the early and challenging days of the pandemic when the virus was just emerging in the United States. One worker said she is overjoyed at the progress we've made in light of the toll coronavirus took on the country at its onset.
"I don't even know how to describe how great it feels to be able to offer people hope with a vaccine because I think that's the best part of what this does," said Dr. Ashley Perrott, a Physician Executive, Novant Health.
Dr. Perrott's reaction is a far cry from the early days of the coronavirus with the advent of masks and social distancing. During that time, various personal protective equipment was in short supply, several businesses were forced to shut down and positive cases were on the rise.
Perrott said she and her colleagues and other health workers alike weren't only battling to save lives. Like the scientists and researchers, they too were also trying to make sense of the new and invisible enemy.
"Patients were terrified at that point in time and no one really knew what COVID was going to look like and we all thought that it was going to be a shorter process and it turned out to be," Perrott said.
With just a year into the pandemic and despite the loss of lives, things are beginning to look up slightly according to Perrott.
"Really, what we ended up doing is giving a lot of people reassurance that they were going to be OK," she said.
Vaccination programs are now springing up across the country including a mass vaccination site in Greensboro which aims to vaccinate 3,000 people daily for 8 weeks. Vaccination appointments are booked through next week, showing that people are getting their shots.
"It's going to eventually give us the opportunity to get back to a more normal day Today lives and see the people that we love," Perrott said.
Doctors say both the virus and the vaccine are still in their early stages. They say they are learning more about the virus and how to treat it, as well as the side effects of the vaccine.