Biden wants 70% of adults vaccinated by July 4. Will North Carolina meet that goal?

North Carolina is not on pace to meet President Joe Biden’s 70% vaccination goal by the Fourth of July, according to a report from The New York Times.

At its current pace, North Carolina won’t reach that mark until November.

Currently, 54% of adults in the state have received at least one dose, trailing the national rate of 63%.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services did not agree to an interview to discuss The New York Times report, but did email a statement to The News & Observer.

“We still want to reach our goal of two-thirds of North Carolinians 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose. That’s when we believe we will have enough protection across our communities to be able to live more safely with this virus,” the statement read. “Similar to other states, we’ve seen a drop in demand and DHHS continues to study the most effective strategies to encourage people to get their shot.”

Gov. Roy Cooper has scheduled a COVID-19 press conference for 3 p.m. Thursday, where he is expected to announce a cash-drawing incentive for vaccines.

Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease specialist at UNC, said in an interview with the N&O that he doesn’t expect North Carolina to pick up its vaccine pace in time to meet Biden’s goal. But he said every vaccination administered matters.

“This is not an all-or-none type of situation,” Wohl said. “Every percent increase in vaccination rate translates into less people dying. It really does.”

Though the statewide rate is much lower than Biden’s target, most counties in the Triangle have either already passed the 70% mark or are on pace to by July 4.

Out of all adults In Wake County, 69.3% of all adults have received at least one vaccine does, according to DHHS. In Durham County, 65.7% of adults have received a vaccination and in Orange County, 73.2% have.

In the more sparsely populated Johnston County, only 48.7% of adults are at least partially vaccinated.

Adam Carroll, Johnston County’s public information director, said the county does not speculate on why some choose not to get vaccinated.

“Our goal always will be making the vaccine easily accessible and available to every resident who desires to be vaccinated,” Carroll said.

Why are rural vaccination rates lower?

Johnston County follows a trend with most of rural North Carolina, where fewer adults tend to be vaccinated on average.

Among the 10 most populous counties in the state, 58.6% of adults have received at least one dose.

In the rest of the state, that rate is about half of all adults.

In an April poll from Elon University, 24% of people who live in rural areas said they would not receive the COVID-19 vaccine compared to just 14% of those in urban areas.

One of the reasons rural counties may be lagging behind urban counties, Wohl said, is vaccine access.

“This is not a homogeneous population who hasn’t been vaccinated yet. I do believe there are people who want to get vaccinated if it could just be made a little bit easier, especially people who live out in the country where there may not be a pharmacy,” Wohl said. “It should not be because someone said, ‘Well, I just couldn’t get it. I wanted it, but I couldn’t get it.’ There should be no one like that.”

Ryan Jury, Wake County’s Mass Vaccination Branch director, said part of the reason the county has been successful in administering vaccines is because of its wide availability.

Jury said Wake County has over 200 vaccine providers and around 300 access points where people can get vaccinated.

“We have that infrastructure as an urban center, which makes us different than some of the other rural communities,” Jury said.

Wohl said vaccination rates may also be lower because of vaccine hesitancy among Republicans, who disproportionately tend to live in rural areas.

“We have to be completely honest about this and objective as possible. Part of what we’re dealing with now is how the vaccine effort was launched last year. There was inconsistent messaging. There was some stoking of hesitancy, even about the outbreak itself,” Wohl said. “You have some who politically believe and have believed that COVID is not as bad as it is and that vaccines are not necessary.”

Among Republicans in that same Elon poll, 28% said they would not receive the COVID-19 vaccine compared to just 9% of Democrats.

In general, Wohl said, politics does not mix well with public health policy.

“We’ve got to be careful not playing into the politics too much with this. ‘Look at them, they didn’t reach their goal’ or ‘look at them, they spent too much money on this.’ I think it’s leading to a cynicism in the public. This is not sports, you know, this is life and death,” Wohl said. “We could criticize people up and down, but people are making really hard decisions, and they have to move forward in a way that’s constructive.”

Vaccination clinics in Johnston County

Carroll said Johnston County is shifting its focus from mass vaccination clinics to mobile clinics at the neighborhood level in order to reach more people.

This week, he said, the county has mobile clinics at the Woodall Heights neighborhood in Smithfield and the Meadow Fire Department.

On Tuesday, the county will have a clinic at the I-95 truck stop in Kenly from 1 to 3 p.m., and another one on June 17, at Hinnant Outreach in Micro from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Johnston County Health Department has walk-in vaccinations available at its building from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays.