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Photo submitted - The new vaccine center at Western Carolina University is now available to all residents. To register, go to vaccine.wcu.edu.
Macon County Schools had a productive first week of getting vaccinations to teachers and staff, but there’s still plenty of work to be done.
On Wednesday, Feb. 24, Macon County Schools faculty members were allowed to begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines after Gov. Roy Cooper promoted them to Group 3 on Feb. 10. Cooper said that school employees are among the most essential frontline workers to vaccinate to help stem the spread of the virus.
In Macon County, 120 staff members were vaccinated on the first possible day, and that number had grown to about 200 by Monday, March 1, representing about 30% of the school system’s workforce.
However, there is still a long way to go towards getting all staff members vaccinated. Dosage supplies will continue to play a role in the vaccine’s availability and some staff members have so far declined to be vaccinated. The school system can’t require the vaccination, but superintendent Chris Baldwin said that they are studying ways to increase participation.
“I am aware of staff who are declining to be vaccinated,” Baldwin said. “We are looking into ways to encourage staff to receive the vaccine. ... We are working with the Macon County health department to ensure that school staff are vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Teachers and school staff are using the registration system and being vaccinated at MCPH’s drive-thru clinics.
MCPH is working with the Macon County School system to make sure teachers can get vaccinated,” said MCPH director Kathy McGaha. “We are not able to leave MCPH to give the vaccination at this time, so teachers are currently coming through our drive-thru.”
In addition, Western Carolina University’s new vaccine clinic has cleared the backlog for the Jackson County Department of Public Health and is now serving the larger Western North Carolina region, including Macon County. The clinic is operating out of WCU’s Health and Human Sciences building, located at 3971 Little Savannah Road in Cullowhee, and vaccines are available by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, or for more information, visit vaccine.wcu.edu.
The addition of the WCU clinic is welcome news to Macon County Public Health (MCPH).
“We are certainly excited to continue to see more clinics open up in the area,” McGaha said. “We expect to continue to see a high volume of individuals, especially as we move into additional groups. We are especially conscious of individuals who may not be able to get to WCU due to transportation of employment difficulties, so we will expect to keep providing a large number of vaccinations.”
MCPH currently has about 2,500 on its vaccination waiting list, though not everyone on that list is currently eligible. Call 828-524-1500 to begin the registration process and get added to the waitlist.
The county is currently receiving 400 doses per week through the state. After receiving a special allotment of 1,170 last week, MCPH has requested an additional “special event” allotment of 1,000 doses for next week.
Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to open Group 3 vaccinations to all frontline essential workers at a press conference on Tuesday, March 2. The state Department of Health and Human Services has previously announced that frontline essential workers could start receiving the vaccine on March 10.
Editor Lee Buchanan contributed to this article.