Lenoir County COVID-19 response updates
KINSTON — In an effort to provide more details to the public about vaccination procedures for COVID-19, the Lenoir County Health Department (LCHD) would like to share the following information.
The vaccine comes from the federal government to North Carolina, and then an amount is allotted to Lenoir County. “Each week, the state tells us how much vaccine the health department will receive; we get this information a few days before the vaccine arrives,” LCHD Director Pamela Brown said
When the LCHD receives notification that doses of the vaccine are coming, that’s when it finalizes plans for the next vaccine clinic and finishes booking appointments. Depending on the amount of vaccine received by the LCHD, there might be a small or large vaccine clinic that week
In order to have people available to receive the vaccine, the LCHD keeps a list of those who have requested a COVID-19 vaccine
When Lenoir County residents call and leave a message at 252-526-4202 or 252-526-4200, Ext. 4323, they WILL be added to the list and called back when the vaccine is available. If a resident has called those numbers and left a message, they will be called back. “Unfortunately, we do not have the staffing to call people back and let them know they have been added to the list, but we will call when we have an appointment available for them,” Brown said
Residents are asked to only call once and leave a message. There is no advantage for a resident to leave multiple messages at those numbers
If a resident is older than 65 and has not yet called to register for the vaccine, they are encouraged to call one of the above numbers and leave this information: their name, their phone number and their birth date
It will take months to give a vaccine to everyone in Lenoir County who wants one, but new providers are being added to the list every month. Eventually, the vaccine will be more widely available and residents will not face such long wait times to receive it
To date, nearly 2,000 COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered to residents. The effort last week at the Lenoir County Livestock Arena involved several county agencies, including the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office, Kinston Police Department, Lenoir County Emergency Services and Lenoir County EMS.
“We are extremely grateful to all the agencies that helped us make last week’s vaccination clinic at the livestock arena so successful,” Brown said. “We are very appreciative of their aid and of the tremendous interest that Lenoir County residents have in receiving the vaccine.”
