Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, took questions Tuesday from a legislative oversight committee about the coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Raleigh, N.C. — The state will add 10 „high-throughput sites“ to boost a slow rollout for coronavirus vaccine administration, state Secretary of Health and Human Services Mandy Cohen told lawmakers Tuesday afternoon. The locations, largely in and around population centers, will be operational soon and can handle as many as 45,500 vaccinations a week out of the roughly 120,000 dose the state expects to get each week, Cohen said. The secretary spoke Tuesday before a legislative oversight committee questioning her on the vaccine rollout. A number of legislators questioned the state’s pace and why Cohen allowed counties across North Carolina to stand up their own vaccination operations, leading to inconsistencies and slowdowns. Some counties have vaccine sitting on the shelves, others more demand for shots than they can fill. North Carolina is near the bottom of state-by-state rankings on vaccines administered. Cohen said her department is pressing counties to use what they have, and future allocations will depend on their track record. She also said some counties may be asked to transfer vaccine to locations that are moving faster. Gov. Roy Cooper said in an afternoon press conference that getting the vaccine out is his administrations No.1 priority. Among other things, there are issues with the data system North Carolina built to track vaccinations, which doesn’t mesh with hospital data systems and takes 15 to 20 minutes to fill out per patient, according to testimony offered during Tuesday’s oversight meeting. Cohen said that’s being worked on. “We are not there, where I want to be yet,“ she said. „But the fact that we have our own system allows us to get there over the next number of weeks.
