​Wake County Successfully On-Boards More Than 30,000 People To New Vaccine Wait List In First 10 Hours

Press release from the Wake County Government:

by Stephen R. Walston on 1/19/2021 10:20 PM
Category: Human Services; WakeGOV Home Page

Ten hours after the launch of
Wake County’s new vaccine system, more than 30,000 people now have places on its
COVID-19 vaccine wait list. As a result, more than 700 requesters received notifications
today that they could schedule appointments, many conveniently picking their
time slots for this week within minutes of getting the word.

At 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday,
January 19, the Wake County Public Health team opened a website portal and 24/7
vaccine hotline to allow health care workers and those 65 and older request
vaccines. Those groups include an estimated 180,000 people in Wake County.
While that large population temporarily overwhelmed the call center and online
form in the opening hours of launching the system, by 10 a.m. roughly 4,000 had
completed requests, and by 8 p.m. more than 30,000 had successfully completed requests
(3,000 health care workers eligible in Group 1 and more than 27,000 people 65+ in
Group 2).

Wake County leaders want to reiterate
that this is an appointment ONLY process, deliberately aimed at vaccinating
those at highest risk of hospitalization and death while supplies are limited.
In the first activation for appointments today, those who are 75+ and live in
the zip codes with the highest positivity rates were notified to make an
appointment. The process does not prioritize based on individual health risks,
but on larger community-based risks. Some Wake County zip codes are reporting
an alarming 18% COVID-19 positivity rate. In Wake County, those 75 and older
make up 68% of the deaths from COVID-19.

Today 322 people who had scheduled appointments made last week were vaccinated.
Tomorrow 422 more people will be vaccinated. Appointments for the rest of the week
are now full through Saturday.
Please note, there were 10 people who showed up without appointments today.
Staff, in their excitement to vaccinate eligible Group 2 members, saw open
slots due to missed appointments and vaccinated a small handful of people
against protocol. With the waiting list now full and appointments this week
booked, there is a renewed focus by Wake County’s vaccination staff to stick to
protocols. Walk-ups will have to be turned away going forward.

We
remind the public that the vaccination form at WakeGov.com/vaccine and the
hotline 919-250-1515 are working 24 hours, seven days a week and will continue
to be available for requests. Look for information about a new second site for
vaccinations to open up next week which will raise Wake County’s ability to
accommodate 2,800 vaccinations a week to almost 7,000.

This press release was produced by the Wake County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.