Guilford County officials, local health providers and many people scheduled to get COVID-19 vaccinations this week were stunned and incensed to find out that thousands of vaccine doses from the state were taken away from Guilford County and sent to Charlotte.
Fred Gregory, an area senior citizen, said he was scheduled to be vaccinated on Monday, Feb. 1, but he then got an email telling him his appointment had been cancelled. The email gave him a number to call for more information.
“I was all set,” he said, adding that he called the number to Cone Health and heard a recorded message that informed him that vaccinations scheduled after Monday, Jan. 25 had been cancelled.
The message said those vaccinations scheduled for Monday would be given but all others after that are cancelled. The only exceptions are for those who are scheduled for their second vaccinations. (Area health officials are encouraging those scheduled for their second shot to keep their appointments.)
Guilford County Commissioner Justin Conrad said on Saturday, Jan. 23 that Guilford County’s doses were going to a mass vaccination event in Mecklenburg County.
“I have nothing against Mecklenburg County, but, dammit, I represent the people in Guilford County and this is playing politics with their lives,” Conrad said. “This is not fair.”
Conrad said he really doesn’t know what NC Governor Roy Cooper is thinking – given that there are a lot of people in Guilford County who are fearful for their lives and who have been counting on the vaccinations.
“Essentially, what Governor Cooper did was cut us out,” Conrad said, adding that only nine counties out of 100 in the state were getting their previously allocated doses.
Conrad said that it was his understanding, based on what he’d been told, that the decision was made in part due to a bizarre accounting method the state has begun using where the focus is entirely on what number of vaccines are on hand but that fails to account for the number of vaccines scheduled.
For instance, Conrad said, if a county has 4,000 doses on hand on Sunday, and those are already scheduled for injection on Monday and Tuesday, there are really no doses available since the ones on hand are already claimed. However, the state sees thousands in storage and thus cuts that county or health system out of the supply loop.
Conrad said that both Cone and Guilford County had been effectively getting the vaccine out to people in the community and it therefore made no sense to cut Guilford County off.
Conrad said he believes Cooper and other state officials need to be made aware that the citizens in Guilford County are extremely displeased with what seems to be a horrendously unfair decision. He said that might make the state think twice before doing this in the future.
“Here’s my question,” Conrad said. “Guilford County is the third largest county in North Carolina; Greensboro is the third largest city, and your telling me our number is zero.”
Government has proven to be inefficient in handling things that require efficiency. Too much red tape, too slow to respond, not fully understanding the dispensation system and logistics from beginning to end. What’s the best way to get the most vaccines out to the most people? Ask hospitals, doctors and nurses…not necessarily governors.
Doctors and nurses aren’t exactly trained to organize large scale vaccinations. Those are actually government employed Health and Human Services employees. Americans really don’t understand the value or potential of strong Public Health Services.
Roy Boy doesn’t care. He’s not up for reelection in 2024. Blame the damn fools who rewarded his idiocy last year by giving him four more years. I wasn’t one of them.
Gov. Cooper, your approval rating just took a tremendous nosedive. It seems there is more to the story than what we know at this point. I hope those who lost their appointments are quickly rescheduled shortly.
“Conrad said he really doesn’t know what NC Governor Roy Cooper is thinking – given that there are a lot of people in Guilford County who are fearful for their lives and who have been counting on the vaccinations.”
I will tell you exactly what he was thinking…..Re-Election time is near and there are far more “fearful” Democratic votes in the Charlotte Area than in the Greensboro area.
He’s running for US Senate in ’22 and has to shore up POC votes in Charlotte/Mecklenburg Co.
I hope he does run for Senate. I’d vote for him. He’d do less damage in DC than he’s doing now. If he won and resigned, then Mark Robinson would be governor. That suits me just fine.
If you recall, the “this will just go away” administration had promised 20,000,000 would be vaccinated by the end of 2020. The actual number was around 10,000,000. Tough decisions have to be made when states were deceived about vaccine availability.
Judging by the entitlement of this paper’s reader’s comments, I suspect many of you have the means to drive to Mecklenberg if you really want a vaccine. It seems you want some socialist doctor to bring the vaccine to you, but per your typical penchant, maybe you need work for it a little bit.
Yes, he knows what he’s doing 100% con job , again.
There are more LEFT votes in Charlotte than even LEFT Greensboro.
If you are expecting a logical ‘splanation or justification to this kerfuffle…….
I saw the advertising and event at Charlotte Motor SpeedWay being talked about on national TV. Sure can’t have an event covered that big and run out of vaccine. Would make the state look bad. Idiots!!! Voting has its consequences.