COVID vaccine waitlist balloons to around 7,000 in Mecklenburg. Most are educators.
Roughly 7,000 people are on the Mecklenburg County Public Health waitlist for a COVID-19 vaccine, county leaders say.
This is the first time the county has detailed the size of its waiting list.
County Health Director Gibbie Harris said she doesn’t know the exact number on the health department’s waiting list. It’s around 7,000, she said Monday — but it could be more.
The majority of people on the wait list are educators, county medical director Dr. Meg Sullivan said. The waitlist announcement came on the heels of the state expanding the list of people eligible for vaccines.
Educators will be eligible for vaccination appointments starting Feb. 24, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper announced last week.
But some educators have already signed up for coronavirus vaccine appointments for dates before Feb. 24 by mistake, Sullivan said. The county is working with those people to reschedule their appointments or put them on the wait list, she said.
Though the state is set to begin vaccinating educators in Group 3 of the state’s vaccination plan next week, not everyone in Groups 1 and 2 have been vaccinated, Harris said.
Groups 1 and 2 include health care workers, residents and staff at long-term care facilities and anyone age 65 and up.
County leaders “strongly encourage” anyone from those groups who has not yet been vaccinated to reach out to the county, Sullivan said.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 10:49 AM.
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