Home Local News Richmond County Health Departments cuts Saturday from vaccine schedule

Richmond County Health Departments cuts Saturday from vaccine schedule

NCDHHS

ROCKINGHAM — The vaccine clinic schedule in Richmond County is changing to just Monday through Friday.

Interim Health Director Cheryl Speight said in an email Monday that vaccines will no longer be available on Saturdays.

“The numbers have been low during this time and the decision was made to stop Saturday clinics,” she said. “If we see a need in the future this can always be added back into our schedule.”

According to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, 14,826 Richmond County residents (33%) are fully vaccinated and 15,858 (35%) have had at least one dose.

The DHHS COVID Dashboard shows that 42% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, including 79% of those aged 65 or older.

All three vaccines with emergency use authorization in the U.S. — those made by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — are available in Richmond County. However, local health officials are trying to reserve the Pfizer vaccine for teenagers, as it is currently the only one authorized for use on those aged 12 and up. Moderna is now seeking the same approval.

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Vaccines are available Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Fridays from 8-11 a.m.

There is no charge and no appointment necessary.

Since June 1, testing for COVID-19 has been slowed to 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturdays.

There were 65 new cases of the coronavirus in the county from June 1-16. The Health Department now only releases numbers once per week.

Richmond County has now had 4,806 cases. As of June 16, there were 21 active cases including one hospitalization.

New daily statewide cases have been below 300 since June 18 and below 600 since June 5.

 



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