North Carolina Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry visited Dare County’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Kill Devil Hills this morning, where just over 600 first doses of the vaccine were slated to be administered.
Sprayberry arrived at the Dare County Youth Center at Family Recreation Park at 9:30 a.m. and embarked on a tour of the clinic with Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson.
According to Sprayberry, one of the primary reasons for his visit this morning was to obtain some logistical inspiration from Dare County’s vaccine clinic operations before a federally-supported COVID-19 vaccination center opens early next month.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced the establishment Friday morning of this FEMA-supported COVID-19 vaccination center, which will be located at the Four Seasons Town Centre in Greensboro. The center will open on March 10 and remain open for eight weeks. Offering both drive-thru and walk-in services, it will operate seven days a week and have the capacity to provide up to 3,000 vaccinations per day.
The state’s partnership with the federal government for this facility is intended to help North Carolina ramp up vaccinations and assist in reaching more members of underserved communities.
During his tour of the Dare County vaccine clinic, Sprayberry also met with Dare County Manager Bobby Outten and Department of Health & Human Services (DCDHHS) Director Dr. Sheila Davies.
“My team and I are very excited for Director Sprayberry’s visit to our clinic today, not only because he is a bit of a celebrity to many of us but also because this visit gives my department the opportunity to show just how efficient our system is—and how many vaccines we have the capacity to administer here in Dare County if we were to receive more doses from the state each week,” said Davies.
Davies also noted that she had applied for another special event allowance and was granted 500 extra COVID-19 vaccine doses for Dare County which will enable DCDHHS to administer 1,000 first doses at next week’s clinic.
DCDHHS continues to administer COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare professionals and those ages 65 and older, but Davies expects to possibly begin administering vaccines to any school and preschool staff who haven’t already received their vaccine, as well as other frontline workers, beginning in the next two weeks. To date, DCDHHS has administered 8,398 first doses and 5,741 second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.