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11 p.m. Duke University Hospital family medicine physician Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi has been working to drive COVID-19 vaccine equity and acknowledges more people need to see more people from underserved communities getting vaccinated. Dr. Martinez-Bianchi also said the bottom line is there isn t enough vaccine right now but more equality in vaccine demographics is incumbent on healthcare providers building trust. We need to start thinking about what are the reasons people hesitate: Is it that they re hesitant or is it that health systems government public health haven t earned people s trust, asked Dr. Martinez-Bianchi. We also should be thinking about who are those people that are most vulnerable, which are the populations most affected by COVID-19 in our country and this population is the one who should be receiving the vaccine. ....
Yet most other states managed to roll out the vaccine more quickly than North Carolina, which has so far administered only about one-third of its allotment. That speed matters, as federal officials have said future distributions may be based on how quickly states are putting shots into arms. But exactly why North Carolina has fallen behind is complicated. A survey of dozens of county health departments across the state by the N.C. Watchdog Reporting Network shows a range of problems that have hampered their ability to vaccinate people in the first phase of the rollout namely front-line health workers and the elderly. Problems include: ....
The N.C. Watchdog Reporting Network surveyed local health departments across the state to find out why North Carolina has ranked near the bottom of states in administering the COVID-19 vaccine. We found a lack of manpower, technical problems and logistical hurdles. ....