Congressman tours vaccine sites

ANGIER – U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson (NC-08) toured two vaccine deployment locations Wednesday in Harnett and Moore counties to get an update on the rollout in his region. "Seeing the vaccine rollout in our community firsthand provides valuable feedback on what our region needs," Hudson said. "I commend leaders in our counties for working together across health departments, EMS, school systems and other entities to successfully administer vaccines. I will continue to work with the governor and at the federal level to ensure our communities get the vaccine doses and resources they need."

While at Harnett Central Middle School in Angier, Congressman Hudson received an update from Harnett County Health Department Director John Rouse, Emergency Services Director Larry Smith, County Manager Paula Stewart, County Commission Vice Chairman Lew Weatherspoon and County Commission Chairman Brooks Matthews.

A total of 980 doses were administered at the middle school Wednesday, as health care workers and volunteers worked to get vaccines in arms at a rate of 200 per hour.

This was the first time this mass deployment had been used at the middle school on a day when students were in virtual learning, according to a release from Hudson's office. Hudson said he was glad to see how successful it was and to know that this method can be used in the future as more doses of vaccine become available. So far, Harnett County has administered 15,000 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

In Moore County, Rep. Hudson toured the Fair Barn which is being used as a vaccination site and received an update from First Health CEO Mickey Foster and First Health CMO Dr. Jennifer Bruno. Leaders discussed the challenges with getting enough doses in areas like Moore County where the population of people aged 65 and older makes up nearly a quarter of the county, much higher than the average statewide. The congressman said he would discuss those concerns at the federal level. So far Moore County has administered 10,000 first doses of vaccine.

North Carolina has administered 1.5 million doses so far and received $95 million from the latest COVID-19 relief legislation passed in December. At both vaccine sites, Hudson told leaders that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will now give providers three-weeks notice of how many doses to expect as opposed to the one-week notice they were previously getting.