NC Policy Watch reports the total number of vaccinations dropped by 23% over one week in April, an indication that North Carolina still faces challenges in achieving its vaccination goals. Now, the state Department of Health and Human Services wants to direct vaccination efforts toward neighborhoods where few people have gotten shots.
David Wohl, MD, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases, said vaccinations will fall and rise as new populations become eligible, but it’s likely that many of the “hand-raisers,” the people who actively sought out shots, have gotten them.
“We have to make sure the hand-raisers get access to the vaccine,” Wohl said. “I’m committed – if we have to bring the vaccine to you, we’ll bring the vaccine to you.”
Wohl also talked with WRAL about the dragging pace of COVID vaccinations, a protest against mandatory vaccines and trends in North Carolina.
“I’m hopeful that people will get back off the fence and into clinics to get vaccinated, and that we’ll get vaccines to people who really want it,” said Wohl. “There are a lot of people out there who do want to get vaccinated and are having trouble doing so.”
As COVID-19 vaccinations slow, experts urge caution about lifting more rules. Wohl explained his concerns in a CBS-17 news story.
“The virus will go to places where people are not vaccinated. So, if a community remains at 50 percent, that community is going to be more vulnerable,” he said. “I think you’re going to see sporadic outbreaks in communities that have not vaccinated sufficiently.”
Months following a call from the American Academy of Pediatrics to expand vaccine trials to include all children, both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are under way with vaccine trials on the youngest age group yet.
Although this trial is good news for those eager to have a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine authorized for use in children, David Wohl, MD, questions its fast timing.
Wohl, who is not involved in the Moderna or Pfizer studies, said the trial looked well-designed and likely to be effective but wondered why the children were to be followed for only one year while adults in Moderna’s study are followed for two years. He also told the New York Times he was surprised to see the vaccine being tested in children so young already.
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report notes the importance that vaccine providers monitor people for anxiety responses in addition to allergic responses following COVID-19 shots. The CDC says the monitoring should happen in the 15 minutes after vaccination.
David Wohl, MD, said the system adjusted screening protocols following those initial reports and vaccine administrators now try to pinpoint people with histories of fainting during blood drawing or shots.
“They go to a special area; we recline them. It’s almost like a first-class lounge, Wohl explained in the WCNC report. “They are vaccinated in the chair and observed in the chair. “I think it is a lot of anxiety, which I understand, but I don’t think the fainting instance is due to any ingredients in one vaccine versus another.”