The Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services is now accepting COVID-19 vaccine registrations from anyone 18 or older who has one or more high-risk medical conditions and other individuals in the State of North Carolina’s vaccine priority Group 4, according to an online announcement yesterday by the DCDHHS.
North Carolina will not move statewide into Group 4 until March 23, so DCDHHS is advising registrants to expect to wait “a couple of weeks” before they receive a call from one of its staff members about making a vaccine appointment.
You may register at www.darenc.com/covidvaccine by filling out a request form.
According to the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Group 4 includes individuals over age 16 who have a medical condition that puts them at high risk of exposure to COVID-19 and/or severe illness if they are exposed; people experiencing homelessness and incarcerated people who have not yet been vaccinated; and essential workers who did not meet the Group 3 criteria for frontline essential workers.
The DCDHHS is not able to vaccinate 16- and 17-year-olds yet because it has been receiving only the Moderna vaccine in its state allocations, and that vaccine—unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine—has not been approved for use in the younger age group.
[UPDATE 3/10/21: A reader reports he was given the choice of getting the Moderna or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine when he registered with DCDHHS last week. The J&J vaccine has not been cleared for 16- and 17-year-olds, either.]
More information about who qualifies for Group 4 is available at the NCDHHS website at “Deeper Drive, Group 4”: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines/find-your-sport-take-your-shot/deeper-dive-group-4#essential-workers-not-yet-vaccinated.
The “Deeper Dive” page has a link to a list of high-risk medical conditions that the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Protection has identified for priority vaccine status.
IN OTHER COVID-19 NEWS . . .
On Monday, the CDC announced updated recommendations for how fully vaccinated individuals may interact with other people and go about their business. The CDC’s list of recommendations can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html.
The CDC advises fully vaccinated people to continue to wear masks and practice physical distancing when they are in public settings, but says they may go without masks and distancing when they are indoors in the company of other fully vaccinated people.
Governor Roy Cooper and NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen reported yesterday during a short press briefing that North Carolina has received its anticipated 80,000 doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but they gave no indication about how NCDHHS has allocated those doses to vaccine providers across the state.
Dr. Cohen, who is considered a frontline essential worker, said she has received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which, like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, is fully effective two weeks after its administration.
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 3/10/21
The Southern Shores Beacon 
Last week you posted about the vaccine registration website for Dare County. Thank you….. I got the call two days later asking me which vaccine I wanted, J&J or Moderna. J&J appt is this Saturday and the 1st Moderna is the following Friday with the second shot appt set as well. Michael
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Thank you for letting me know this. There has been no word on the Dare County Dept. of HHS about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, nor has the N.C. Dept. of HHS specified how it is distributing it. Interesting that you received a choice. Dare County is so far ahead of other vaccine providers in the state that it is registering Group 4 now. The sooner you register, the sooner you get your vaccine. Thanks again!
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