Cooper: Seniors, staff in long-term care facilities could get Moderna vaccine this month

On Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper held a public briefing to discuss the coronavirus vaccine timeline in North Carolina.

According to Cooper, three hospitals, including Wake Forest Baptist Hospital and Duke, received the first doses of Pfizer's vaccine on Monday. Eight more hospitals, including UNC Medical Center, received their first batches on Tuesday, and a remaining 42 hospitals will receive their vaccines Wednesday.

Depending on the size of the hospital, anywhere from 20% to more than half of employees can be vaccinated with the more than 2,500 doses.

Cooper reminded North Carolina residents that the availability of the vaccine is very limited, and healthcare workers who are in close contact with COVID-19 patients will be the first to get vaccinated.

Staff and residents at the state's long term care facilities are next on the priority list, and it will likely be springtime before the general public can get vaccinated.

The Food and Drug Administration could authorize a second coronavirus vaccine, manufactured by Moderna, on Friday, people familiar with the agency’s plans said. The decision would give millions of Americans access to a second coronavirus vaccine beginning as early as Monday.

On Tuesday, Cooper said North Carolina could get 175,000 doses of Moderna's vaccine next week, and just over half of those would go to a long term care facilities so staff and residents could be vaccinated before January.

On Tuesday, North Carolina hit another record high for hospitalizations, with a total of more than 2,700 people in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 182 people went to the hospital within the past 48 hours.

COVID-19 cases currently make up 15% of all hospitalizations in the state, and North Carolina has topped 5,000 daily new cases in six of the last seven days.