Some at high-risk for COVID raise concerns about vaccination priority

While the goal was to simplify the process, one Raleigh woman says it's too broad.

"We were so excited when the first phases came out; he was pretty high up there," described Patty Reichmeider.

Reichmeider's 27 year old son recently received a kidney transplant. She said the fear of him contracting the virus is heightened now more than ever.

"When they switched the phases, just very recently, we were just so shocked and disappointed that people like him have been de-prioritized and pushed down to Phase 4," said Reichmeiders.

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Charlene Wong, the physician leader at the state Department of Health and Human Services COVID Response Team, said the algorithm of priority groups has been simplified to make getting through each phase much shorter.

"Even though someone might have in let, let's say Phase 1b or Phase 2, and now it looks like they're in Phase 4 -- actually the number of different levels, in our prioritization has gone down," she explained.

Although adults with high risk of exposure are moved to Phase 4, the measure of time is comparably the as before.

“It’s a much simpler algorithm organization so that people can both better understand where it is that they fit, and where they have their spot in line to get the vaccine, and importantly, so that our vaccine providers can make sure that they can mostly get quickly get get COVID-19 vaccinations into the arms of North Carolinians," said Wong.

Since COVID-19 vaccine supply does not meet demand, there isn't a timetable of when the next phase will begin.

Reichmeider said more solutions should be available.

"I just feel like that group is too many things lumped into one tremendous group," she said. "I wish that doctors had a little more flexibility to prescribe a vaccine to patients who really need it the most."

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