Guilford County’s supply of COVID-19 vaccine has been coming in in fits and starts, but right now there’s finally enough in the pipeline for county health officials to announce more vaccination appointments for the first week in February.
On Friday, Jan. 29, Guilford County announced the details for those who want to attempt to be one of the lucky ones to get the protection. The demand is great and the supply is not, so appointments for the free shots will go very quickly. Registration for this round of shots will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 8 a.m.
Last week, elected leaders worked hard to see that Guilford County got a share of the vaccine – which is why this week the county will be able to schedule about 5,000 appointments.
Walk-ins aren’t accepted – though it should be pointed out that in some cases locally, and around the country, “ineligible” people have gotten lucky: Sometimes there will be unused vaccine that authorities do not want to go to waste.
The vaccinations will be held on Thursday, Feb. 4, Friday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 6.
Currently, the shots are reserved for people aged 65 and up. (Healthcare workers in North Carolina are also eligible to get the vaccine but a press release from the county stated that health care workers should check with their employer directly to schedule an appointment since the process for employers is different.)
Those 65 and older can register for an appointment at www.healthyguilford.com. They’ll also be able to phone in to get an appointment be calling 336-641-7944 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or until all appointment slots have been filled.
The new round of vaccinations will be held at the following locations:
- Mount Zion Baptist Church at 1301 Alamance Church Road in Greensboro
- High Point University Community Center at Oak Hollow Mall at 921 Eastchester Drive (Suite 1230)
- The Greensboro Coliseum at 1921 W. Gate City Blvd. in Greensboro.
To keep up with future vaccination appointment openings, those eligible or interested can go towww.healthyguilford.comor subscribe to the county’s text messaging opt-in system by texting GC19 to 888777 for updates in English or by texting GC19S to 888777 for updates in Spanish.
Why in hell are they making this like a Black Friday mob rushing the doors at a Target store? The site will not accept registration currently but will open “vaccine rush” at 8am.
This is simply incompetent administration and is essentially inciting a panic. The county could accept all registrations now, vet them for eligibility, and simply assign appointments via text or phone. Why are they creating a bottleneck, a panic and a competition? Is there no common sense anywhere in our government?
Jam
I completely agree.
How is “registrations are open starting now” really different than “registrations open at 8am”, you ask?
Well, one gives people the opportunity to plan to be available to make a registration appointment, potentially giving more people equal footing in the sweepstakes of getting the vaccine currently. The other only accommodates the people that have immediate access to internet, computer, phone, etc. to try to register. This all assumes that the appointments will be given out on a first-come, first-serve basis (assuming you’re in the appropriate demographic group).
If you want to just have open registration, then maybe couple that with a lottery so there is no real benefit to being the first person in line and therefore decreasing the load on servers, ISPs, etc. Regardless, open registration has flaws in it as well. Add work by having all the loud angry people complain about the time they got assigned for their appointment and try to readjust their schedules. Add work by simply confirming they actually got their appointment assignment (so it isn’t wasted). I suspect it will also increase the number of missed appointments without much opportunity to get the vaccine to someone else, so less efficiency.
If nothing else, remember this: We are trying to vaccinate 200-300 million people absolutely as fast as we can. This is not a job that anyone has real experience or expertise in doing (at least not on this scale). Mistakes will be made, we will get better at it, and we won’t have arrived at a perfect solution – only a solution.
Wear your masks and get a vaccine when you can.