Mecklenburg has new COVID shot openings as eligibility opens to some in Group 4
Starting Wednesday, people with chronic health conditions will be able to make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine for the first time in Mecklenburg County.
Mecklenburg County Public Health is opening new appointments at Bojangles Coliseum to anyone eligible, including people in Groups 1, 2 and 3, and certain members of Group 4, who become eligible for the shot Wednesday.
Anyone eligible for the shot can book the new appointments starting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday online at starmed.care or my calling 980-314-9400 (option 3 for English, option 8 for Spanish).
The new appointments run through March 31, according to the health department. The county did not say how many more appointments it was adding.
Mecklenburg County Public Health has administered 34,615 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, and 18,227 second doses as of March 10.
Medical conditions in Group 4
People in Group 4 eligible for the shot starting Wednesday include people living in shelters and detention centers, and people age 16-64 with one or more medical condition with high risk of getting severe disease from COVID-19.
Some of those medical conditions include: asthma, cancer, cerebrovascular disease or history of stroke, chronic kidney disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis and diabetes.
Also among the medical conditions listed are heart conditions, hypertension, intellectural and developemental disabilities including Down Syndrome, neurologic conditions such as dementia and schizophrenia, pregnancy, smoking, obesity and others.
More information on the state’s priority groups is available online.
North Carolina is also offering vaccines to health care workers, staff and residents at long-term care facilities, anyone age 65 and older, and front-line essential workers.
Influx of vaccines
The state has moved up the timetable for vaccinations multiple times this year.
Gov. Roy Cooper had previously said those members of Group 4 with chronic health conditions would be eligible starting March 24. But last week, the state said those people would be eligible starting Wednesday.
And most people in Group 3 — front-line essential workers, like law enforcement and restaurant workers — found out in early-March they would be eligible for the vaccine a week earlier than expected.
The expanded access to vaccines could mean the entire state would be eligible for a vaccine sooner than expected.
That could be in just weeks, state Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen told North Carolina companies in a Tuesday panel with North Carolina-based Catapult, which represents more than 2,300 employers.
“I think we are weeks away from everyone being eligible, not months,” Cohen said.
Increase in vaccine eligibility comes as the state sees an influx of vaccine, due in part to the newest vaccine authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the one-injection Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 3:45 PM.
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