Durham County stops taking new vaccine appointments due to limited supply

The Durham County Department of Public Health announced Thursday it will temporarily close its vaccine appointment scheduling due to a limited COVID-19 vaccine supply, effective immediately.

The public health department will also not add new vaccination dates to its online booking site until a later date to be determined.

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At this time, no currently scheduled vaccine appointments will be canceled or postponed, though some appointments beginning Monday, Feb. 1 will be moved from the Durham health department location to the Southern High School location. Individuals whose appointments must be moved to Southern High School will be contacted by phone or email.

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"We are very thankful that we do not have to cancel any currently standing appointments, but as secretary Cohen explained to the public in her news conference earlier this week, the unfortunate reality is that demand is far outpacing supply," health director Rod Jenkins said. "Durham County has a baseline allocation of 600 first doses for the next three weeks, and we are uncertain when our allocation will increase. It is best to halt scheduling until we are confident we will be able to fulfill additional appointments."

Although the public health department expects to be able to honor appointments already scheduled, the public is encouraged to stay tuned to accurate sources of information and communications from our team, as vaccine supply is subject to change.

"We hope that by the end of February we will be able to reopen our scheduling process and see increased supply, but that is uncertain at this time. We will continue to provide more information as it is received,"Jenkins said.

Individuals in vaccination phases 1 and 2 may still sign up for the COVID-19 vaccine waitlist at tinyurl.com/DCoVaccineWaitlist in English or tinyurl.com/DCoListaVacunas in Spanish to receive a call if vaccine doses become available due to appointment cancellations or no-shows.