One thing that the coronavirus certainly does is generate a lot of statistics for people to absorb, and this week, the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) expanded the corona-virus categories that it displays.
The day before Thanksgiving, NCDHHS added – to its web-based data “dashboard” – COVID-19 vaccine data for the booster doses.
The new category allows dashboard viewers to see the number of booster doses administered following a vaccine recipient’s primary series of shots.
The booster doses are being displayed as a state-level total called, “Additional/Booster Doses Administered.” This information can be found on the “Summary Data” tab on the vaccination progress summary section of the dashboard. It replaces the “Total Doses Administered” category.
According to state health officials, the running number of people who received a booster dose includes anyone who’s fully vaccinated and has received another dose of a COVID-19 vaccine – or “any dose that has been indicated as an additional or booster dose by the person’s health care provider, since Aug. 13, 2021.”
That’s the date when the CDC first recommended additional doses and boosters.
The state’s Covid-19 information dashboard can be found at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard.
The new dashboard data comes from the NCDHHS COVID-19 Vaccine Management System’s ability to link data between the North Carolina Providers program and the Federal Pharmacy Programs. Using this interconnected system, NCDHHS can identify which people have received another dose following their primary series – even if those doses were provided through different programs. Those doses are added to the “Additional/Booster Dose Administered” count.
NCDHHS has also added another new data point to the dashboard: “Population 5+ Years of Age.” This allows anyone to easily view information on vaccines administered to recipients 5 years of age and older.
