County providers to receive reduced allotment of vaccine

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County has received less doses of the COVID-19 vaccine than they requested, causing FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital – Richmond and the Health Department to cancel some vaccination appointments for the coming week and pause new appointments.

So far, FirstHealth and the Health Department have administered 2,100 first doses (out of two) of the vaccine, and the vaccine is now available to those who are 65 years old and older regardless of medical condition or living situation.

The two entities requested a total of 1,200 doses from the state based on projected vaccination rates for the period of Jan. 26 through Feb. 1, but they will only receive 400 between the two of them — 100 for the Health Department and 300 for FirstHealth. This is 33% of what they requested and is 650 less — representing a 62% reduction — than the weekly average doses they’ve been given so far.

“We will use every first dose we have by end of [Friday],” said Dr. Tommy Jarrell, director of the Health Department. “Unless additional vaccine supply is provided from state, some appointments scheduled for next week will be cancelled and rescheduled.”

The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This article will be updated.

FirstHealth has changed the outgoing message on the phone number used to schedule appointments to let callers know that they are no longer taking registrations due to the limited supply of the vaccine, according to Emily Sloan, a spokesperson for the hospital.

“We’re asking that callers not leave messages at this time as registration is currently closed,” Sloan said in an email. “We’ll reopen registration once we have the vaccine supply to do so.”

Richmond County has had 769 new cases of the virus in the new year, with a percent positive rate of 20% and an average of 35 new cases each day. Since Jan. 1, 15 people have died of the virus, with two deaths both Thursday and Wednesday of this week, making six total deaths for the week as of Friday afternoon.

“We want everyone in Richmond County to know that we are working tirelessly to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible, but vaccine supply remains our biggest challenge,” said John Jackson, President of FirstHealth’s Southern Region and Administrator of the FirstHealth-Richmond campus, in a press release.

“If the state expands our supply, we are prepared and ready to address the vaccination needs of the county,” he continued. “We thank community members for their patience during this challenging time.”

This is a developing story.