News Release from Orange County Health Department
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. ― The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) revised its vaccine distribution plan on Jan. 14 to simplify who is eligible to receive the vaccine.
North Carolina moves through vaccination phases by aligning to federal priorities while giving local health departments and hospitals the flexibility to move to the next priority group when they are ready. NCDHHS says that providers who are ready may vaccinate individuals in Phases 1 and 2.
- Phase 1 – all health care workers, long term care residents and staff
- Phase 2 – Older Adults (65+)
- Phase 3 – Frontline Essential Workers such as first responders (firefighters, police), education (teachers, support staff, daycare), food and agriculture, manufacturing, corrections workers, U.S. Postal service workers, public transit workers and grocery store workers https://www.orangecountync.gov/DocumentCenter/View/14404/frontline_essential_workers
- Phase 4 – Adults at High Risk for exposure and increased risk of severe illness
- Phase 5 – Everyone
“We know that people are doing all that they can to learn about the vaccines so they can make the best decision for themselves and their families," said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen. "It can be hard to know what is true and what can be trusted. We are here to provide you with honest, factual information.”
In order to assure an orderly process, the Orange County Health Department requests individuals who are in either Phase 1 or Phase 2 to register to receive a vaccination by following three simple steps.
- Complete the Vaccine Interest Form (VIF) at https://redcap.link/OCHDvax or call 919-913-8088 if you don’t have access to a computer or would like help filling out the form. Foreign language interpreters will be available. We are anticipating very high call volume. Please be patient for a return call if you decide to leave a voicemail.
- Register for the vaccine. You will receive an email with a link to an online registration form to enter your data into the COVID-19 Vaccine Management System (CVMS). It will take several minutes to complete. It is only available in English, but county staff are available to help register in other languages besides English by calling 919-913-8088.
- Schedule your vaccine appointment. When an individual is eligible to receive a vaccine, you will receive another email from the Orange County Health Department to schedule an appointment. For those who have already received their first vaccination via the Orange County Health Department, you will be contacted by staff several days prior to when you are eligible for your second vaccination in order to schedule your appointment.
“We are working as quickly as possible to vaccinate all eligible people, but limited availability of vaccine means we are not able to schedule appointments for everyone who is eligible right away,” said Orange County Health Director Quintana Stewart. “Please be patient as we work through this process.”
Points of Vaccination
The locations for the Health Department’s points of vaccination (also called Points of Dispensing, or a POD) will change from week to week and day to day. UNC Health also has opened registration for its local points of dispensation: https://vaccine.unchealthcare.org/get-vaccinated/
Residents may make an appointment for vaccination either through the Orange County Health Department or through UNC Health. Those that have already registered don’t need to take any additional steps if they have already begun registration. Appointments are required to better manage crowds and to track the department’s available supply of vaccine. Anyone without an appointment will be turned away from a point of vaccination with directions on how to sign up. In order to expedite getting through the phases it is preferred that people do not double book but rather go through either UNC Health or OCHD.
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