BAKERSVILLE — All three health departments within the Toe River Health District are administering COVID-19 vaccines as quickly and as often as they can, TRHD Director Diane Creek told the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners during its regular meeting on Monday, March 15.
Creek, who was on the agenda to give an update on her department, said Mitchell County has received 2,100 Moderna first doses and has administered 2,073 of those while receiving 1,400 second doses and administering 1,175.
Second doses run about 28 days behind the first dose and allocation is set at the state level and is based on population.
“They’re administering everything they get,” Creek said. “If you don’t use it, you get cut down the line, so they’re using everything they can get.”
Yancey County has received 3,400 first doses and administered 3,346 and has received 1,800 second doses and administered 1,798. Avery leads the tri-counties with about 4,145 first doses received (3,828 administered) and 2,700 second doses (2,195 administered).
“We’re putting it out as fast as we can get it,” Creek said.
Vaccines come in 10-dose vials. Once a vial is punctured, health department staff have about six hours to use it. Creek added that TRHD has not wasted any vaccine.
Creek said after an initial flurry of interest in the vaccine, things died down.
“Right now, it’s really hard,” she said. “At first, people were knocking down our doors trying to get the vaccine. Once we got through the rush of that, it kind of dropped off. Now, it’s really tough to get people to come in and get the vaccine.”
Creek said testing numbers are also rapidly decreasing.
“Testing numbers are going down fast and we don’t know exactly why,” Creek said. “Maybe because the vaccine is out. COVID is still there. It has not gone away. Positive numbers are down but testing is also down.”
Mitchell County recorded its first positive case on March 25, 2020. In total, the county has had 1,335 positive cases with 11 total active positives, 1,294 recovered and 30 total deaths (as of March 11).
“That’s people who have tested positive,” Creek said. “It’s really hard to know because there are a lot of places that tested and didn’t let us know. That number is not exact but it’s as close as we can get.”
Creek implored people to get the vaccine, adding that the local vaccine administration numbers could be deceiving because people have come from other counties and states to receive their vaccine in Mitchell.
“We want to vaccinate as many people as we can,” Creek said.
To get a shot, call the Mitchell County Health Department at 688-2371 and press 8, which will connect you to the vaccine hotline. After connecting to the hotline, you will be placed on a list and when an appointment is available, you will receive a call.
Commissioner Jeff Harding asked Creek if the county would receive any of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines in the future to which she said they are looking into it.
“Johnson & Johnson is brand new and needs to ramp up,” she said. “Moderna is 95-percent effective and Johnson & Johnson is not, it’s less.”
Creek praised her employees and the volunteers who have helped with testing and vaccinations.
“I’ve never lived through anything like this before,” Creek said. “What a group of people to live through something like this with.”
The commissioners and County Manager Tim Greene praised Creek and her staff for their hard work over the past year.
“It’s a well-oiled machine you guys have been running,” said Commissioner Steve Pitman.