CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tuesday marked exactly one year since the first COVID-19 shot was given in North Carolina. Atrium Health’s Vice President and Enterprise Epidemiologist Dr. Katie Passaretti was the first in the state to roll up her sleeve.
“It was just a tremendous day that I’ll never forget,” she said one year later.
Healthcare workers and people who lived or worked in a long-term care facility were up first and it took several months until the shots were available to the public. Along the way, there have been supply and demand issues, inequities, and hesitancy to overcome.
Now, as booster shots are recommended for everyone 16 and older, there’s still a large group of people who do not want to or have not yet gotten the vaccines.
Dr. Passaretti told WCNC Charlotte she had hoped the community would be at a different point by now but said it should not take away from the huge positive impacts the vaccines have had in the last year. Moving forward, she said education needs to continue to encourage more people to get the vaccines.
In North Carolina, 14 million doses have been given so far. Two million of those have been booster or additional doses. As of Tuesday, 66% of the eligible population has gotten at least one shot.
Across the border in South Carolina, 59% of everyone eligible is partially vaccinated.
As cases rise again in the Carolinas and around the country, doctors say there’s more work to be done.
“Honestly, I shudder to think what last year would’ve been like without the protection of vaccines,” Passaretti said. “We certainly had significant impact with delta, but that impact would’ve only been magnified. So, continue to advocate, educate as we go along.”
At a press briefing on Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper said he was proud of the people who have already been vaccinated but stressed the need to get vaccination rates up even more.
“This is truly the central focus now of getting us out of this pandemic," Cooper said. "We’re going to do everything we can to get more people with shots in arms so they can get this layer of protection. That’s going to be our mission the next few months."
In the past year, UPS has delivered 1 billion doses of the vaccine around the world. Experts believe having global protection is key as the virus mutates and more contagious or severe variants develop.
“It is tremendously important that we right now honestly look outside of our own per view and to the rest of the world make sure there’s vaccine equity, vaccine access in other parts of the world or we’ll continue to see challenges like we’re seeing with omicron and different variants that pop up and spread throughout,” Passaretti said.
While getting initial doses out to more people is the top priority, health experts say data shows the booster shots provide more protection against omicron. The Pfizer booster shot is now available to everyone 16 and older, six months after the second dose.
The Moderna booster is available to adults 18 and older 6 months after a second dose while Johnson & Johnson is open to everyone 18 and older two months after the initial shot.
Contact Chloe Leshner at cleshner@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.