WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC-H1N1 vaccine coming in very slowly

H1N1 vaccine coming in very slowly

By Tom Roussey - bio l email 

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Wednesday night the Mecklenburg County Commission voted to spend $1.8 million in federal money on setting up a mass vaccination program.  But the county's health department is totally dependent on how fast it can get doses of the vaccine to come in.

The money commissioners unanimously approved spending will be used to hire more people and on other things to set up the mass vaccination.

But so far, as has been the case all over the country, the Mecklenburg Health Department has not been able to get the vaccine in at the speed it thought it could.

The department ordered 160,000 doses, but as of Wednesday night health director Wynn Mabry said only 8,000 had come in.

"We have to kind of live on a week by week basis in terms of our supply," Mabry said.  "The amount of vaccine we get at the end of the week determines what we can do next week."

Mabry said he had hoped to be vaccinating kids in CMS schools by now, but instead will not be able to start until mid-November.  Once he does start, he says it could be early next year before the health department can finish.

Information and permission slips about the vaccination are scheduled to go home with kids on Friday.

In the meantime the county is offering shots at its Billingsley Road location (Southeast Charlotte) and its Beatties Ford Road location (Northwest Charlotte).

The shots are for people in high-risk categories -- pregnant women, children between 6 and 36 months, kids 5-18 with medical conditions, and people who take care of babies less than six months old.

Mabry says slots are going fast.  For information you can call 704-432-5100.  Mabry's hoping the health department will get enough vaccine in to keep offering the shots, but can't be certain yet.

He does say the vaccine is starting to come in at a faster rate than it has been.