Are you 16 or older? Here’s a guide to the next COVID-19 vaccine phase in Beaufort Co.
All Beaufort County residents who are 16 to 54 years old will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines starting Wednesday, as the state moves into Phase 2 of distribution.
The latest phase dramatically expands the Palmetto State’s vaccine eligibility about a month earlier than expected.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control opted to launch Phase 2 as vaccine demand waned during the later days of Phase 1b, which began March 8.
Here’s everything you need to know about Phase 2:
Who can get vaccinated?
Almost everyone in Beaufort and Jasper counties will be eligible on Wednesday. Kids and teenagers who are 15 or younger, though, won’t qualify for shots.
The three vaccines currently authorized for emergency use in the United States haven’t been OK’d for distribution among children.
Teenagers who are 16 or 17 years old, though, can get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Anyone who’s 18 or older can get the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
Pfizer and Moderna are both running clinical trials to test their vaccines in children 6 months to 11 years old. The companies are also conducting trials among teenagers 12 to 15 years old and 12 to 17 years old.
J&J has released plans to test its vaccine in younger age groups, too.
How long will I have to wait to get vaccinated?
It’s hard to say. It could be a couple of days before Phase 2-eligible residents receive a shot.
Or it might be a few weeks.
Nick Davidson, DHEC’s senior deputy for public health, told reporters Friday that it may be difficult to book an appointment in early April, but added that “only time will tell” as to how long that spike in vaccine demand will last.
“We’ll be as ready as we can be for this,” Davidson said.
Over 4 million South Carolinians will be eligible for vaccines during Phase 2 of distribution, including those already covered under Phases 1a and 1b.
More than 1.2 million residents have received at least one dose, according to DHEC data updated Tuesday. That’s roughly 30% of residents aged 15 and up.
Where can I get a shot?
There are dozens of vaccine providers around the Lowcountry, but not all of them had openings as of Tuesday morning, according to DHEC.
You can look at DHEC’s online vaccine locator tool to find providers that are accepting appointments: https://bit.ly/VaxLocator
You can’t register for appointments, though, via the tool. DHEC’s web page provides only contact information for individual providers.
The tool can sometimes become outdated, too.
Many residents are securing appointments via word of mouth. S.C. vaccine hunters have created Facebook groups, community advocates are alerting people to local walk-in availability (when it occurs) and health care systems are posting about vaccine openings on social media.
What websites should I bookmark when looking for a vaccine?
The following state websites are important to monitor:
https://bit.ly/VaxLocator — DHEC’s vaccine locator tool (you can also contact the agency’s vaccine call center at 1-866-365-8110)
http://bit.ly/DHECScheduler — DHEC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment System, or CVAS. This system lists open slots at county health departments and state-run mobile clinics. You can directly register for appointments via CVAS
Beaufort Memorial, Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals are the area’s biggest vaccinators. Burke’s Main Street Pharmacy on Hilton Head Island and local CVS, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Publix, Walgreens and Walmart locations have also received relatively large shipments since mid-December, state data show.
Here are those providers’ sign-up pages:
http://bit.ly/BMHImmunizations — Beaufort Memorial Hospital (the submission page will be updated late Tuesday with Phase 2 eligibility information)
http://bit.ly/HHRegionalImmunizations — Hilton Head Regional Healthcare
https://bit.ly/BurkesImmunizations — Burke’s Main Street Pharmacy
http://bit.ly/HarrisTeeterImmunizations — Harris Teeter
http://bit.ly/KrogerImmunizations — Kroger
http://bit.ly/PublixImmunizations — Publix
http://bit.ly/WalgreensImmunizations — Walgreens
http://bit.ly/WalmartImmunizations — Walmart
Who should I follow on social media?
Check @scdhec on Twitter regularly. The agency has been posting updates about DHEC-run clinics. Beaufort Memorial Hospital and Hilton Head Regional Healthcare have also been publishing information on Facebook.
Informal social media groups can be helpful, too. The Hilton Head, Bluffton, Lowcountry vs Covid-19 Facebook group, for example, sometimes includes posts about vaccine availability.
Where are different vaccine brands available?
DHEC has mostly been sending Pfizer doses to hospitals and large medical centers. Moderna and J&J doses are more widely distributed via pharmacies.
What is VAMS?
The Vaccine Administration Management System, or VAMS, is a federal vaccine registration system that some providers use.
Beaufort Memorial, Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals use VAMS.
At Hilton Head Regional Healthcare, for example, here’s how VAMS scheduling works:
People must submit some general information to the health care system — including their date of birth and email address — via a web form. The system will upload that into VAMS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will eventually send residents an email with a link to access VAMS. That CDC email is typically sent within 24 to 48 hours. VAMS will display appointment options.
VAMS proved to be a frustrating, confusing program for many seniors during Phase 1a. Hospitals, state health officials and residents largely panned it. South Carolina opted to use VAMS as part of its vaccine rollout after the CDC developed it.
Why did DHEC switch to Phase 2?
Davidson, of DHEC, said the state considered several factors when opting to immediately switch to Phase 2, which was originally expected to begin in early May following Phase 1c.
(Phase 1c has since been eliminated from the state’s vaccination plan.)
Phase 1b demand, Davidson said, recently started to wane in parts of the state. DHEC, for example, had no open appointments at its vaccine events a week before Davidson spoke to reporters on Friday.
“We now have availability at more than 30 locations around the state,” Davidson said at the time.
He added that 403 providers across South Carolina had openings.
An expected influx of doses this week also factored into DHEC’s Phase 2 decision, he said.
The state is receiving 160,770 first Pfizer, Moderna and J&J doses this week, CDC data show. That includes 28,900 J&J doses, which is a significant uptick. The state initially planned to receive just 5,700 J&J doses.
Publix is also becoming a Federal Retail Pharmacy Program provider in South Carolina, Davidson said. CVS, Walgreens and Walmart are already part of that partnership in the state, which receives a separate, direct allocation from the federal government.
The partnership’s S.C. allocation this week is about 75,000 first doses, Davidson said. A month ago it was roughly 12,000 first doses.
“The best vaccine is the one that’s in your arm,” he said. “When it’s your turn, we recommend that you get any vaccine offered to you.”
Like South Carolina, several other states including Florida are planning to expand vaccine eligibility to all residents 16 and up. Georgia has already done so.
President Joe Biden recently said he wants 200 million COVID-19 doses to be administered nationwide within his first 100 days in office. He’s on track to meet that goal in April.
More than 147 million doses have been administered in the country, the CDC reported Tuesday. And 16.1% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated.
How many people have been vaccinated in Beaufort and Jasper counties?
Over 57,800 Beaufort County residents have received at least one vaccine dose, DHEC reported Tuesday. Almost 37% of county residents who are 15 or older have now received a shot, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Only about 3,900 Jasper County residents have gotten a dose. That represents about 16% of the county’s 15 and up population.
Note: All data in this story are current as of Tuesday afternoon.
