News

County will catch up on seniors before moving to 'essential workers'

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 2, 2021

The Henderson County Department of Public Health and its partners will remain focused on providing the Covid-19 vaccine to eligible seniors, health care workers, school and child care staff until supply increases enough to open up to additional essential workers, the county department said in a news release.

Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday that vaccine providers can begin vaccinating essential workers eligible under Group 3 on Wednesday if they are ready. With thousands of Henderson County residents in the current eligibility groups still waiting to be vaccinated, local vaccine providers made the call together that they would remain focused on these groupings until further notice. The Health Department will not open the waitlist to additional Group 3 essential workers at this time.

Henderson County vaccine providers – including Pardee UNC Health Care, AdventHealth Hendersonville and Blue Ridge Health – continue to receive small weekly allotments while demand continues to outstrip supply. Thousands of seniors remain on the Health Department’s waitlist, many of whom have been waiting weeks for their turn.

At this time providers will remain focused on vaccinating the populations most at risk of serious illness and death from Covid-19. According to the CDC, eight out of ten COVID-19 deaths reported in the U.S. have occurred in adults 65 and older. In Henderson County, this statistic is closer to nine in 10. Henderson County has one of the largest senior populations in the state, with U.S. Census data reporting 26.4 percent of the county population 65 and older. This is more than North Carolina’s overall figure of 16.7 percent.

Vaccine providers in Henderson County will announce when they are ready to begin vaccinating additional Group 3 essential workers. Individuals can use the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Find My Vaccine Group tool at https://findmygroup.nc.gov/ or contact the NC COVID-19 Vaccine Help Center at 888-675-4567 to determine whether they qualify as an essential worker under Group 3.