Durham points finger at state as county waits on planned mass vaccination site

"As soon as we get the vaccines, we are going to be raring to go," Davis said. "It’s not something I can point to and say it’s anybody’s fault, other than to ultimately say it’s just been a matter of having the adequate amount of vaccines in order to gin up a mass vaccination site."

But the county health department pointed the finger at the state Department of Health and Human Services and the state Division of Emergency Management, saying they're the ones who plan for mass vaccination sites.

"All plans for the mass vaccination site and vaccine used to supply said sites are being managed by NC DHHS and NC Emergency Management," department officials said in an email. "​All timing and plans are being managed by State EM and NC DHHS."

Durham County Health Director Rod Jenkins has refused repeated requests in recent months WRAL News for an interview.

Kody Kinsley, the DHHS deputy secretary who heads up the agency's pandemic response, said Wednesday that county officials are the ones who decide whether to open a mass vaccination site, and the state merely provides any needed support.

"The agency is really with Durham County," Kinsley said. "This is just like in any other emergency response – the state steps in to support the local community. We really see our local partners as in the driver’s seat.”

Durham resident Christina Fish said she got vaccinated at the drive-thru event outside PNC Arena after having difficulty lining up an appointment in Durham.

"It is a shame that it wasn’t more accessible here in Durham," Fish said, adding that a large-scale event like the one at PNC Arena would do well.

"I think it would be fantastic. I think it’s very much needed," she said. "I don’t understand why we can't get the supplies or whatever they are saying is the impediment."

Davis said local officials are continually lobbying the state for more vaccine.

"Our elected officials, they’re on the phone. Our public health director, he’s on the phone. Every Thursday, I’m on the phone with the [county] managers’ association," he said. "The state, I think, is doing the best they can given the circumstances, given the supply."

Kinsley said Durham County has received more than 88,000 doses so far.

"They are getting a very large share of doses or have cumulatively since the start of this," he said, noting the county has provided at least one dose to 17 percent of its residents, "which is on the much higher end of the spectrum."

"I assume that they have decided collectively as a community to use their own methods to administer those vaccines instead of activating the Fidelity site," he said. "I don’t know what Durham County and Durham Health Department, like what is their minimum amount that they would take to activate the Fidelity site."

Davis said he believes the vaccine supply will expand in the coming weeks, making a mass vaccination site like one proposed at Fidelity Investments' campus in Research Triangle Park viable.

"As we have the vaccines in, which I am hoping to have within the next couple of weeks, I would imagine [that, with] the planning efforts that we have put in place to get that kicked off, we will be ready to go," he said. "Vaccine supply is critical. Once we have that in hand, we can get going. We are eager to do so."