North Carolina moves to limit out-of-state access to vaccine
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina public health officials are shifting their guidance to improve access to the vaccine for North Carolinians.
The new state guidance permitted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allows vaccinators to turn away people who are briefly passing through the state or are coming to North Carolina for the main purpose of getting a COVID-19 shot and then returning to another state.
Non-residents can still take advantage of loopholes. Several people living outside North Carolina took advantage of mass vaccination clinics last month in the Charlotte area.
South Carolina’s health department director, Edward Simmer, told state lawmakers Tuesday morning that the state was not requiring proof of residency for the shots and that the majority of people getting them did live in South Carolina.
Many people have turned to North Carolina amid frustration in their home states.
The appointment making process was difficult for 68-year-old Lance Garrett. He made calls, navigated an online system he considers “stupid” and learned it would not be until mid-April when he could come in for a vaccine. Frustrated with the process, the Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, resident acted on a neighbor’s tip about a mass vaccination clinic in Charlotte allowing vaccinations for elderly out-of-state residents.
