CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County health director Gibbie Harris says the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine is finally reaching its stride, even with uncertainty about vaccine availability from week to week.
“We are continuing to see an increase in the availability of vaccine but we don’t know from week to week what that’s going to look like," she said.
That stride, however, could be slowed down as Johnson & Johnson prepares to send out significantly lower allocations of its one-shot vaccine this week.
“We do expect, week to week, lower levels,” said Andy Slavitt, the senior White House adviser for COVID response.
This week specifically, only 700,000 doses are allocated for states, which is 86% less than the 4.9 million J&J shots given out last week.
“If you have an appointment, everyone's working to make sure we can try to keep it, you just might not be getting Johnson & Johnson," said NBC medical contributor Dr. Kavita Patel.
So why the slowdown? Two reasons: an ingredient mix-up that forced 15 million doses to be thrown out, and a brief pause of J&J distribution in North Carolina after some reports of adverse side effects after the shot was given. These side effects included fainting, but health officials like Patel said those reports weren't widespread enough to halt usage of the single-shot dose entirely.
“In the big picture this is an incredibly small number, so having several dozen cases while something to watch for.. is not concerning," she noted.
This week's roll may be slowed down, but there's an encouraging angle to this too: about a quarter of all adults in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, and almost half of all adults have gotten at least one shot. The White House is optimistic and has recently set a new goal of getting 200 million vaccines in arms by the end of April.
The optimism has reflected at the local level too; Harris reports more than 5.6 million doses have been given out in Mecklenburg County, meaning the rollout is moving in the right direction.
"We’re moving from demand outpacing supply, to supply and demand sort of balancing out at this point," she noted.
Have a relative or friend in another state and want to know when they can get vaccinated? Visit NBC News' Plan Your Vaccine site to find out about each state's vaccine rollout plan.