Dare County now accepting vaccine requests for essential workers
The Dare County Department of Health & Human Services announced on Thursday, March 4, that they will be accepting vaccine registration requests for folks in Group 3: Front-line Essential Workers.
Dare County residents who want to make a request can do so via the online registration form at www.darenc.com/Register4Vaccine. Once submitted, a call center member will contact the requester with a vaccine appointment time and date as the vaccine is available. (Note that the call center is continuing to experience a high call volume, and a return call could take several days to receive.)
Governor Roy Cooper announced that additional front-line essential workers in Group 3 would be eligible for vaccinations beginning on Wednesday at a March 2 press conference. The expedited timeline follows the approval of the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine, and an expected increase in vaccine supply to North Carolina.
Front-line essential workers are people who must be in-person at their place of work, and who work in one of the eight essential sectors listed below:
- Critical Manufacturing
- Education
- Essential Goods
- Food and Agriculture
- Government and Community Services
- Health Care and Public Health
- Public Safety
- Transportation
A list of examples in each of the above categories can be found on the NCDHHS website at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines/find-your-spot-take-your-shot/deeper-dive-group-3#frontline-essential-worker-frontline-essential-worker.
Per a Tuesday update from Dare County, the county’s weekly allocation has been increased to 500 first doses per week for the next three weeks, as well as an extra 500 first doses this week and 1,500 first doses next week, in response to additional special event requests that were submitted to the state.
“With this increase in allocation we have successfully been able to offer appointments to those aged 65 and over who were on our waiting list, and we are now ready to move to Phase 3, Essential Workers,” stated the update. “Phase 3 Essential Workers as defined by the state are those who work in critical manufacturing, education, essential goods (including grocery stores, pharmacies, food service and gas stations), government and community service organizations, churches, public health, public safety and transportation.”
