Novant launches latest mobile COVID vaccination effort. Here’s what you need to know.
Cary Amey went to Lowe’s at Northlake Mall to get stain Tuesday morning. He didn’t expect to get a COVID-19 vaccine, too.
But that’s what happened when he showed up and saw purple Novant Health tents and a Novant van outside the home improvement store.
Amey called his 16-year-old daughter Adriana as soon as he got his shot. She was on her lunch break from Cox Mill High School in Concord, so she drove straight to Lowe’s to get her vaccine, too.
The event was part of Novant Health’s newly launched mobile vaccination clinic efforts, aiming at bringing COVID-19 vaccines to priority ZIP codes that are typically underrepresented in health care.
Novant Health is first focusing on the “crescent” of Charlotte — a band of high-poverty neighborhoods west, north and east of Charlotte — to make sure marginalized communities have access to the vaccine.
And the hospital system has had some success with smaller vaccine pop-ups so far.
More than 52% of people showing up for Novant Health pop-up clinics are African American, compared with only 17% of people who show up to receive shots at mass vaccination sites, chief consumer officer Jesse Cureton told the Observer.
Novant Health first launched mobile vaccination units in February, Novant Health Director of Community Engagement Operations Ylida Roberson said Tuesday.
But partnering with retail stores for vaccination clinics like Lowe’s is new for the mobile vaccination initiatives, she said.
The mobile vaccination unit will make two stops each week, along with the hospital system’s Saturday pop-up vaccination clinics. The team will have up to 250 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses available at each event.
This week, the mobile vaccine unit is also stopping at Compare Foods on North Tryon on Thursday. Appointments are not required.
And Novant Health will also host a second-dose vaccine clinic at McClintock Middle School on Saturday, by appointment only.
The mobile efforts come as health-care experts worry vaccine hesitancy could slow vaccination rates in the Charlotte area as vaccine supply outpaces demand.
More than five million people, or nearly 8% of those who were given a first dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, have missed their second doses, the Centers for Disease Control reported Monday.
As of Tuesday, 36.3% of Mecklenburg County residents are at least partially vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to state Department of Health and Human Services. And 23.8% of county residents are fully vaccinated.
But the county vaccination rate still lags behind North Carolina’s rate overall.
Statewide, 38.4% of NC residents are at least partially vaccinated and 30.5% of state residents are fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.
Mecklenburg County is still a long way off from reaching herd immunity, where a large majority of the community is vaccinated. That could be somewhere between 70-80% of the population vaccinated, Cureton said.
“We know the only way we can continue to close this gap, particularly around people of color and marginalized communities, is to have a very aggressive strategic plan to go to these communities,” he said.”
One woman at the Lowe’s vaccination clinic, Jasmine Ocampo, said she actually had an appointment for a COVID-19 shot before Tuesday.
She missed it because she was “a little bit scared” about the vaccine, she said. But a friend who works at Novant told her about the vaccine clinic at Lowe’s. She said she interacts with a lot of people at work, so she knows it’s important to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Still a little bit nervous,” Ocampo said. “But I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Several people at the event heard about the event after they showed up at the store, or from friends. One person at the Tuesday clinic got her shot and then drove to pick up another person for their shot. And one group showed up with five people in a car, all waiting to get their shots.
The convenience of the mobile vaccine clinic was important, Amey said.
When COVID-19 vaccines first became available, appointments were nearly impossible to get, he said. “It was jam-packed.”
He’s still nervous about the pandemic, he said. But his daughter said she’s glad they both have their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Knowing that it’s going to be harder for me to get it now, makes me feel better,” she said.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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