March 25, 2021: New Vaccination Guidance - Change in Priority Groups

Today North Carolina announced an accelerated timeline for moving to Groups 4 and 5 for vaccine eligibility. The rest of Group 4 will be eligible on March 31 and all adults eligible beginning April 7. The move will allow the state and vaccine providers to continue to get vaccines into arms quickly and continue to reach underserved and historically marginalized populations.

NCDHHS also announced a new public private partnership, Healthier Together: Health Equity Action Network, to enhance the state’s work to deliver equitable access to vaccines, and released a new biweekly equity data report to provide another avenue for transparency. 
 
Accelerated Timeline
Beginning on March 31, additional essential workers and people living in other congregate settings such as student dormitories will be eligible for vaccination. Essential workers include frontline workers and workers who do not have to be in-person for work in an expanded range of sectors such as construction, energy, financial services, public works and others as categorized by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. A complete list is available in our Deeper Dive.
 
All North Carolinian adults 16 and older will be eligible to be vaccinated beginning on April 7.
 
Doubling Down on “Fast and Fair”
The accelerated timeline will allow the state to double down on its “fast and fair” approach to getting shots into arms. Healthier Together, a new public private partnership with the NC Counts Coalition, will help increase the number of individuals from historically marginalized populations that receive COVID-19 vaccinations and provide a foundation for a longer-term framework for health equity.
 
Healthier Together will implement strategies to drive demand and increase access to vaccines to historically marginalized populations by conducting outreach and education efforts, coordinating local vaccine events at trusted and accessible locations, helping people schedule and get to vaccine appointments, providing on-site translation services, and helping ensure people get to second dose appointments. 
 
Learn more about Healthier Together.
  
Data Transparency
Promoting COVID-19 Vaccine Equity in North Carolina reports the share of vaccinations in the past week going to Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and American Indian or Alaskan Native populations as well as key metrics for earning trust, embedding equity in vaccine operations, and promoting accountability through data transparency. The report also highlights best practices to promote equitable access to vaccinations. It will be updated every two weeks.  
 
National Recognition
North Carolina has been recognized nationally for its work to get COVID-19 vaccines to historically marginalized populations. North Carolina was named the only state to collect and publicly report race and ethnicity data for nearly 100% of vaccinations. According to the CDC, two-thirds of those vaccinated in North Carolina between December 14, 2020 and March 1, 2021 were from “highly” or “moderately” vulnerable communities, ranking the state in the top ten for equitable vaccine coverage. North Carolina was also featured in Bloomberg News for its data-driven approach to reducing disparities in vaccination rates.
 
For accurate information about COVID-19 vaccines, visit YourSpotYourShot.nc.gov  

SPECIAL ALERT! Vaccine Appointments in Greensboro Focus on Historically Marginalized Population

North Carolina is setting aside half of all vaccination appointments from March 10th through March 14th (7,500 appointments) at the federally supported COVID-19 Community Vaccination Center in Greensboro at Four Seasons Town Centre site to help ensure individuals from Historically Marginalized Populations are able to access vaccine appointments. Appointments can be made online by visiting https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/how-do-i/gso-mass-vax-online-registration

• Additional appointments are available through our call center for those who are not able to access the web-based registration tool. Appointments may be scheduled by phone (888-675-4567) through the COVID-19 Help Center (Monday to Friday from 7am to 7pm, Saturday to Sunday from 8am to 4pm).

Spanish Translation:

Estamos reservando la mitad de todas las citas de vacunación desde el 10 de marzo hasta el 14 de marzo (7500 citas) en el sitio Four Seasons Town Center para ayudar a garantizar que las personas de poblaciónes que han sido históricamente marginadas (HMP por sus siglas en inglés) puedan acceder a las citas de vacunación. Las citas se pueden hacer en línea visitando https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/how-do-i/gso-mass-vax-online-registration

• Citas adicionales están disponibles a través de nuestro centro de llamadas para aquellos que no pueden acceder a la herramienta de registro basada en la web. Las citas se pueden programar por teléfono (888-675-4567) a través del Centro de ayuda de COVID-19 (lunes a Viernes de 7h a 19h, sábado a domingo de 8ha 16h).

For Followup Information from NCCDD's COVID-19 Vaccine
Presentations in January, click here. 

To view the COVID-19 Recording from the January Presentation, click on the video above.

Learn how to get the vaccine in your area – visit https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/findyourspot or call the COVID-19 Line at 1-877-490-6642 (it’s a free call).

What We Know

A tested, safe and effective vaccine will be available to all who want it, but supplies are currently limited and will continue to be for the next few months. To save lives and slow the spread of COVID-19, independent state and federal public health advisory committees recommend first protecting health care workers caring for patients with COVID-19, people who are at the highest risk of being hospitalized or dying, and those at high risk of exposure to COVID-19. Listed below is valuable information about the vaccine. We will be updating this page as more information becomes available.

1. North Carolina's COVID-19 Vaccination Plan (See next section below)
   
2. COVID-19 Vaccine Information in Plain Language (download the pdf) - Adapted from SARTAC at selfadvocacyinfo.org
3. NCDHHS Vaccine Infographic (download the pdf) or view the web page
4. Frequently Asked Questions (English / Spanish)
5. COVID-19 Vaccine Information on NCDHHS website
6. Deeper Dive Group 1 (Health Care Workers and Long-Term Care Staff and Residents) Fact Sheet PLEASE NOTE: Important Changes (Accurate as of 1/28/2021)
   • Long-Term Care Staff and Residents – Now includes “shared housing with two or more individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving home and community-based services”
   • Health Care Workers with In-Person Patient Contact can Include, but are not Limited to: - Includes “Home caregivers to medically fragile children and adults providing regular medical care”
7. Deeper Dive Group 2 (Older Adults) Fact Sheet

North Carolina’s updated phases include:

Group 1 - Health care workers & Long-Term Care staff and residents

• Health care workers with in-person patient contact
• Long-term care staff and residents—people in skilled nursing facilities, adult care homes and continuing care retirement communities

Group 2 - Older Adults

• Anyone 65 years or older, regardless of health status or living situation

Group 3 - Frontline Essential Workers

• The CDC defines frontline essential workers as workers who are in sectors essential to the functioning of society and who are at substantially higher risk for exposure to COVID-1

Group 4 - =Adults at High Risk for Exposure and Increased Risk of Severe Illness

• Anyone 16-64 years old with high-risk medical conditions that increase risk of severe disease from COVID-19 such as cancer, COPD, serious heart conditions, sickle cell disease, Type 2 diabetes, among others, regardless of living situation
• Anyone who is incarcerated or living in other close group living settings who is not already vaccinated due to age, medical condition or job function
• Essential workers not yet vaccinated. The CDC defines these as workers in transportation and logistics, water and wastewater, food service, shelter and housing (e.g., construction), finance (e.g., bank tellers), information technology and communications, energy, legal, media, public safety (e.g., engineers) and public health workers

Group 5 - Everyone who wants a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccination.

Use the button below to access the rest of NCCDD's COVID-19 Resources for People with Developmental Disabilities:

NCCDD COVID-19 Resources