Cooper Announces Expedited Vaccine Eligibility Timeline For NC

NORTH CAROLINA — The wait for coronavirus vaccine eligibility just got shorter in North Carolina. The state will open up vaccination eligibility for the remainder of Group 4 essential workers by the end of the month, with shots offered to anyone 16 years old or older by early April, Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday.

The news comes as state health officials report that nearly 4.3 million doses of vaccine had been administered in North Carolina. As of Thursday, about a third of the adults in the state had received at least one dose and about 20 percent were fully vaccinated.

"Our vaccine team has been talking with providers constantly to assess where they are in getting vaccines out across the state," Cooper said at a news conference Thursday. "It varies in different localities, but our overall success has been good and the state is ready to open vaccine access to more adults."

Under the expedited timeline, Group 4 essential workers in commercial services such as hospitality and retail, chemical and pharmaceutical facilities, construction, housing and real estate will become eligible for a vaccine a week earlier, on March 31, Cooper said. This category includes those who work in food service, bank tellers, plumbers, electricians, and sanitation workers.

More information about Group 4 eligibility may be found here.

"The biggest change will happen on April 7th when we will open eligibility to Group 5, and that means all adults will then be eligible for the vaccine," he said.

The expedited vaccine timeline is the second bit of good news for the state this week. Tuesday, Cooper announced that some COVID restrictions, such as capacity limits at businesses, would ease as of Friday.

SEE ALSO: Mass Gathering, Capacity Limits To Ease In New NC Executive Order

The new executive order that goes into effect Friday, March 26 will:

• Increase maximum occupancy up to 100 percent at museums, aquariums, retail businesses, salons and personal care shops.
• Allow capacity to increase up to 75 percent indoors and up to 100 percent outdoors at restaurants, breweries, wineries amusement parks, gyms, pools and other recreation establishments.
• Allow up to 50 percent capacity indoors and outdoors at bars, conference centers, reception venues, sports arenas and other venues for live performances.
• Repeals the statewide 11 p.m. on-site alcohol sale curfew
• Increases the cap for mass gatherings to 50 indoors and 100 outdoors.

The statewide mask mandate, however, will remain in place.