Guilford County had over 10,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine taken away this week and nobody seems to know why.

Or at least if they know they aren’t telling.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston and Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan held a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 25 at the Atlantic Coast Conference Hall of Champions in the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, but not much information about the lack of vaccines for Guilford County was forthcoming.

Alston said that Cone Health had to cancel approximately 10,000 vaccination appointments this week because the expected vaccines were not delivered, and he said that Guilford County was about 385 doses short of what it had expected to receive.

Alston said, “We are going to do what it is going to take.  When we get the vaccine, they will get the vaccination.”

Alston said, “We are not pointing the finger at anyone, not the governor and not the federal government.”

He said he understood that the problem was the federal government didn’t have the vaccines that it thought it did, but he did not explain why Guilford County took the hit for the state.

Vaughan said, “I know that the governor’s goal is to vaccinate as many North Carolinians as quickly and as efficiently as possible and to ensure the steady supply of vaccines from the federal government.”

Vaughan and Alston both talked a lot about how Guilford County was centrally located and had the Coliseum facility that would make a great site for statewide distribution.

Vaughan said, “We have the ability to be part of a statewide solution.”

Vauhgan added, “We need our fair share of vaccines from the federal government and from the state.”

Alston said that they did not have a “clear answer” on why Guilford County was shorted over 10,000 doses of the vaccine this week, but he said, “They look and see how much we have on hand and might not ship it because we have 1,000 or 2,000 doses on hand.”

He said that they didn’t take into consideration that those vaccines on hand were for appointments that had already been made for Monday and Tuesday.

Alston said, “No promises have been made as of yet.  What we know is we are getting 500 doses this week.”

Alston said that those who had been scheduled for their second dose of the vaccine would be rescheduled first because they needed to get that second dose within three or four weeks.

Both Alston and Vaughan said that they were looking forward, not backward, and they were certain the problem would be worked out.  However, since they also said that they didn’t know exactly why Greensboro got shorted, looking at the future that doesn’t offer much assurance that it won’t happen again.