MOYOCK, North Carolina — North Carolina is changing its vaccine policy. Clinics there are no longer required to give doses to out-of-state visitors.
Chairman of the Currituck County Board of Commissioners, Michael Payment said Virginians crossing the border to get their shots can be turned away.
He said it’s a problem he saw first-hand at a vaccination clinic, last week.
“I saw Virginia tag, Virginia tag, after Virginia tag," Payment said. "And when I talk to individuals there manning it they were saying about 200 people who were in line from Virginia and out of state.”
Payment, who’s also on the Albemarle Regional Health Board said Virginians aren’t just coming from Hampton Roads to get vaccinated.
“One lady came in from Richmond and showed up at 12:30 in the morning from Richmond, Virginia, to make sure she got in line," he said.
Some are coming even further than that, Payment said, from as far as Pennsylvania.
Payment said “a good portion" of North Carolina vaccine doses have gone to out-of-state residents, which is a problem because local resources are being poured into funding the vaccination clinics.
“We are spending county tax dollars with staffing, sheriff's department,” he said, adding that locals have voiced frustration about the problem, as well.
“They feel like they’re in line and waiting and waiting and all of a sudden, they say ‘We’re out of vaccines,’ but they see all these Virginia tags in front of them. They were getting upset and I don’t blame them,” Payment said.
He said state officials are now asking vaccine providers to prioritize North Carolina residents first, instead of out-of-state people, which means Virginians could be turned away at clinics.
He said vaccine supplies are already low and the winter weather could have an impact on shipping further doses
At this point we don’t know the numbers yet," Payment said. "We’ve heard of the delays, we haven’t seen that yet; we haven’t heard of any downsizing in the doses. We’re watching them as well and it’s going to affect what we can get.”
Amy Underhill of Albemarle Regional Health Services said in a statement, officials are keeping an eye on the weather.
“The winter storm impacting the U.S. has impacted vaccine shipments across the country and we are currently examining that impact and working with suppliers to determine ship dates for our region," the statement read.
Payment said Currituck County officials were already told by the state to expect lower doses this week.
“Right now our doses for this week for first doses is about 200 doses that’s the lowest we’ve had," he said.
He said rural areas are being asked to “scale back” to accommodate cities with larger populations.
“We’ve been getting the doses out there but I just feel like we the rural counties have been penalized because of our population and where we’re at," Payment said.