GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — First came hospitals, then some nursing homes and now Guilford County is vaccinating its most at-risk workers against the coronavirus.
Guilford County held its first vaccination clinic at Bur-Mill Park Tuesday after getting the first shipment of the Moderna vaccine on December 23.
Doses are being given by appointment only to healthcare workers eligible under Phase 1a of the state's vaccine distribution plan.
The majority of the shots given Tuesday went to county first responders and public health staff who work on the frontlines of the pandemic.
It comes after a handful of county officials got their vaccines last week as a trial run. One of them was Guilford County Emergency Services Director Jim Albright.
"It's an important step, as I told my staff. I took the vaccine for me, my family, my coworkers and for this community so that we had an opportunity to return to normalcy," Albright said.
Albright said he did have some soreness for about a day after getting the shot but he has had no other side effects since.
The Guilford County Department of Public Health said 50 people were vaccinated at Tuesday's clinic.
"They come in, they get a validation, they get some education on the vaccine, the side effects of it, and the emergency use authorization for the vaccine," Albright said, "Then they receive the vaccine and have an observation period afterwards just to make sure they have no reaction."
He said it's hard to know exactly how many people will get their vaccination from the county under Phase 1a.
"The vaccine is not mandated for any of our employees. It is highly recommended. We certainly would like to see somewhere in the neighborhood of two-thirds of our staff taking the vaccine," Albright said.
One of the obstacles to that is that he said there are some employees who have a "wait and see" attitude toward the vaccine.
"A lot of people have a lot of angst about the vaccine and we hope that because those of us in leadership are getting the vaccine early that our employees will follow," Albright said.
Tuesday's clinic only lasted a few hours. The Guilford County Department of Public Health said clinics held later this week will be full-day clinics and will be open to community healthcare providers.
"1a has a number of different employee types within that one phase," Albright said, "Allied health folks who would also be subject to taking care of folks with COVID will be worked into that process and that includes folks from allied agencies such as funeral homes and morticians, et cetera."
This week's vaccination clinics will run through Thursday of this week and resume Monday. From then on, clinics will run Monday through Friday until all Phase 1a employees who choose to get the shot are vaccinated.
Albright said they will move on to Phase 1b after getting permission from the state.
He said the state may make changes to who is eligible under that part of the plan.
"Initially, when it came out, it was for ancillary personnel, public safety personnel, et cetera but they had to have underlying health conditions and it did not include those over the age of 75. The newest recommendations seem to have changed slightly," Albright said.
The county continues to use its supply of the Moderna vaccine but officials anticipate getting doses of the Pfizer vaccine in future shipments as well.