The state will add 10 "high-throughput sites" to boost a slow rollout for coronavirus vaccine administration, state Secretary of Health and Human Services Mandy Cohen told lawmakers Tuesday afternoon.

The locations, largely in and around population centers, will be operational soon and can handle as many as 45,500 vaccinations a week out of the roughly 120,000 doses the state expects to get each week, Cohen said.

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The secretary spoke Tuesday before a legislative oversight committee questioning her on the vaccine rollout. A number of legislators questioned the state's pace and why Cohen allowed counties across North Carolina to stand up their own vaccination operations, leading to inconsistencies and slowdowns.

Some counties have vaccine sitting on the shelves, others more demand for shots than they can fill. North Carolina is near the bottom of state-by-state rankings on vaccines administered. Cohen said her department is pressing counties to use what they have, and future allocations will depend on their track record.

She also said some counties may be asked to transfer vaccine to locations that are moving faster. Gov. Roy Cooper said in an afternoon press conference that getting the vaccine out is his administrations No. 1 priority.

Among other things, there are issues with the data system North Carolina built to track vaccinations, which doesn't mesh with hospital data systems and takes 15 to 20 minutes to fill out per patient, according to testimony offered during Tuesday's oversight meeting.

Cohen said that's being worked on.

“We are not there, where I want to be yet," she said. "But the fact that we have our own system allows us to get there over the next number of weeks.”

Frustration is running high for some, and after the meeting Senate Republicans called on Cohen to take a tighter hold over the situation.

"We need one person in charge making decisions and sticking with them," Sen. Jim Burgin, R-Harnett, said in a statement sent out by Senate leadership. "This isn't up to the federal government, and counties aren't equipped to handle the task. The state executive branch needs to take the reins, make tough calls and move forward."

Statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate the state has administered about 26 percent of the doses it has on hand, though these numbers may be depressed by a reporting lag. Cohen said the rate is improving and that the state saw a 113 percent increase in vaccines given over the last seven days.

She defended her department's decision to rely on local health departments and hospitals to run vaccine operations, saying the state had to use the infrastructure it had in place. Vaccine sitting on shelves "is not acceptable," but she said the state made a conscious decision to send vaccine to all 100 counties, knowing some would do better than others.

She said the state is working with slower counties to get them whatever help they need, whether it be actual vaccinators or help with data entry. The National Guard is on site in two counties: Forsyth and Alamance. Cohen singled Iredell and Robeson counties out for a strong initial effort, saying they've used all the vaccine received.

The secretary also confirmed that some health departments let employees take time off for Christmas just as vaccine was rolling their way.

As for the vaccine tracking system, Leah Burns, a lobbyist for the state hospital association, said it takes "approximately 15 to 20 minutes to get through some of the questions" the system requires when people show up for their shots. Burns also said that, when hospitals vaccinate their own staff, they have to upload each employee in the system and wait on a response from the system, one employee at a time.

Hospital workers who work with COVID-positive patients got the first shot at this vaccine, and operations around the state are moving now to vaccinate regular people aged 75 and up. Other tiers are planned, and Cohen continued to say Tuesday that it will be spring time before the vaccine is available to anyone who wants it, and even then it will take months to administer those shots.

Hospitals are concerned whether this the data system is "going to be more cumbersome when we get to the general population," Burns said Tuesday. She also said hospitals need more flexibility to move vaccine around the state without the special permission required now. The hospitals also want to see more community providers, doctors offices and pharmacies, brought in to help vaccinate people, Burns said.

Cohen promised improvements, including from the new "high throughput sites." These locations will be in the following cities, counties or hospital systems:

  • Forsyth County
    • Albemarle Regional Health Services (northeast North Carolina)
      • Vidant Health (eastern North Carolina)
        • Cone Health (Guilford County)
          • Atrium Health (Charlotte and surrounding counties)
            • UNC Health (Orange County)
              • Duke Health (Durham County)
                • WakeMed (Wake County)
                  • Western North Carolina collaboration with Dogwood Health Trust, the Mountain Area Health Education Center and federally qualified health centers

                    Lawmakers extolled on her to think outside the box, ask the legislature if she needs something and get things moving faster.

                    “We want to be waiting on the vaccine, not having vaccine sitting on the shelves," Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, a committee co-chairman and former hospital executive, told Cohen. "We’ve got a whole lot more work ahead of us.”

                    Ultimately, Cohen said, getting to herd immunity – where enough of the population is vaccinated to burn this virus out – will likely depend on manufacturing pace.

                    “Even if we expended every single vaccine within the next 24 hours we would be vaccinating about 5 percent of our population at that point," Cohen said. "So we know this is going to take time.”