There have been a lot of very upset people in Guilford County over the way the State of North Carolina recently cancelled delivery of a large number of COVID-19 vaccine doses that were scheduled for Guilford County.
One of the most perturbed people – to say the least – is Guilford County Commissioner Justin Conrad, who’s now officially demanding a load of answers from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.
Conrad has filed a public records request with the governor’s office to get to the bottom of what he sees as highly unfair and ill-conceived changes to the state’s vaccination allocation program. Conrad was disturbed that Guilford County would not get its scheduled doses – while, at the same time, Mecklenburg County was getting extra doses for large scale vaccination events.
“It is with great disappointment that I must make a formal public records request,” Conrad wrote in his records request to the governor.
He added that he was forced to do so “due to the ongoing lack of transparency in the systematic and equitable roll out of vaccine dosages to our communities.”
His questions are clearly designed to shed light on how these controversial decisions were made. In his request, he asked for the following:
“Any and all public records regarding allocations and mass vaccination planning for the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Panther Stadium including but not limited to emails sent/received/deleted between employees of DHHS and Mecklenburg County Health Department, Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center, The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority d/b/a Atrium Health Pineville, The Charlotte – Mecklenburg Hospital Authority d/b/a Carolinas Medical Center/Center for Mental Health, and The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority d/b/a Atrium Health University Center, and Governor Roy Cooper.”
“Any and all public records including but not limited to phone logs, texts and emails sent/received/deleted between Dr. Mandy Cohen and Governor Roy Cooper to or from David Tepper, Darius Adamczyk, Dr. Scott Rissmiller, or Greg Walter in regards vaccine distribution at Panther Stadium and the Charlotte Motor Speedway.”
“Any and all public records including but not limited to phone logs, texts and emails sent/received/deleted between members of Dr. Mandy Cohen’s Office and Governor Roy Cooper’s Office to or from David Tepper, Greg Walter, Darius Adamczyk, or Dr. Scott Rissmiller in regards vaccine distribution at Panther Stadium and the Charlotte Motor Speedway.”
“Any and all records including but not limited to emails between representatives of Charlotte Motor Speedway and Panther Stadium sent to members of the Governor’s administration, Governor Roy Cooper and Dr. Mandy Cohen, and Members of NCDHHS.”
Conrad also informed the governor’s office that, as soon as available, he wanted to see statistical data regarding the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Carolina Panther Stadium mass vaccination clinics for the dates of Thursday, Jan. 21 through Monday Jan. 25, “in regards of percentage of minorities receiving dosages compared to non-minorities at these two events.”
Conrad said on Monday, Jan. 25, that he has been extremely disappointed with the confusing and seemingly very unfair decisions from the state with its vaccination distribution practices.
Thanks Commisioner Conrad. Seems as if you are the only Board member willing to ask the hard questions and hold officials accountable. Other City and County elected officials give only lip service about being disappointed. Not many backbones evident based on their statements and camera posing.
Could the folks in charge of DHHS (and State government) be any more reactionary? Honestly, a thinking person – a CONSCIOUS person – should be able to discern that doses “on hand” does not equate to availability, particularly when every county health and hospital website, phone line and calendar has been packed to capacity with scheduled vaccinations.
Please, politicians, take a breath, think through the ENTIRE course of the vaccination protocol and act as if you truly want to serve your employers (the citizens of NC), instead of the haphazard, incoherent and inefficient ping-ponging we’ve seen so far.
Good luck, Justin. Roy Boy ain’t gonna answer any of your requests. He doesn’t like you, so he feels he doesn’t have to answer you. Don’t bother taking him to court. All of Roy’s buddies run that spit show.
Our leaders are hopeless. It is also with limited expectations that we might expect some competence, or: bon chance.
Keep at it , Justin.
Panther Stadium, David Tepper, Big time lib and democratic donor. Guess we had to make Tepper’s PR at the stadium a success
Thank you Justin for acting on the behalf of all of us in Guilford County. And while you are at it, please ask Dr. Mandy Cohen or anyone with the governor’s office where is the public scientific data to justify students age 16-22 getting the vaccine before residents of NC in their sixties? I am curious, since I am a healthy 64 year I have been placed in the group behind the 16-22 year old students………I really thought these decisions were supposed to made on the chance of hospitalization…….
Here’s a tidbit – From the beginning of time vaccines have been a mandate within the US Military. All of a sudden this one is optional. This one also comes with a mandatory 30 minute observation period after you receive it because so many people are having serious adverse reactions to it up to including death. The last time I looked, something like Bell’s Palsy isn’t exactly a minor inconvenience. On the present course I am no where near convinced that the risk incurred by accepting the vaccine outweigh the risks of not taking it. I have a relative who tested positive after her 2nd vaccine. Without the vaccine there is a chance of catching the virus, if you catch the virus there is a chance of death. There are risks with everything do. My grandmother used to say you can die from getting your toe caught in the bed sheet and hitting the floor the wrong way.
*How would the military mandate a vaccine that didn’t exist 3 months ago? If they find it is persistent over the years, it will be mandatory as well. To give context, the Hepatitis B vaccine was not mandatory for military recruits until 20 years after its development. You might recall (because you always sound really old) that George Washington actually ordered all Army soldiers to be vaccinated against smallpox, contradicting laws passed by the Continental Congress forbidding Army Surgeons from inoculating soldiers. Turns out, smallpox was a more dangerous threat to our freedom than the British.
*It’s a 10 minute observation period at most places unless you have some set of contraindications (for example a known allergy to certain things, condition that puts you at higher risk). And then, you have to wait 30 minutes. That’s not even enough time to read the most recent QAnon manifestos!
*As with any vaccine, it does not provide 100% immunity. The goal of a vaccine is to produce an immune response that can fight the virus, not prevent you from ever getting the virus. Re-infection after having COVID-19 is also possible, so even if you had it already, you should still get a vaccine!
*Regarding your grandmother, she’s right to an extent. Using your analogy, getting the vaccine would be like lowering the height of your bed and putting pillows all over the floor. While you still could get your toe stuck in the sheets and fall off awkwardly, it’s about 1000 times less likely to cause you actual harm.
People, get your vaccine when you can and where masks.