The Brunswick County Chairman wrote a letter to the North Carolina Secretary of Health and Human Services to express concerns about Brunswick County's vaccine allocation being reduced. The county has a large senior population at 32.6% and was receiving an average of 1,717 first doses per week but will now receive a minimum of 1,275 doses for the next three weeks. The Chairman asks the Secretary to address questions about the decision to reduce Brunswick County's allocation and requests the allocation be increased to support equitable vaccination of seniors and marginalized groups.

1. Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH
Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Office of the NCDHHS Secretary
2001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-2000
Jan. 31, 2021
Dear Secretary Cohen,
Thank you for responding to the letter I sent to Governor Roy Cooper Jan. 8 addressing our
concerns about vaccine allocation in Brunswick County. We recognize how tremendously busy
you are and appreciate hearing from you.
As you may already know, we sent a second letter to Governor Cooper this past Wednesday
about how encouraged we were to hear the State would work to increase vaccines access to
counties with larger populations over 65 years old. It was further encouraging to receive your
letter only a few hours later echoing the same sentiments.
You can imagine our shock and disappointment the following day when we learned Brunswick
County would only receive at a minimum 1,275 first doses for the next three weeks.
In the three weeks prior, providers in our county had been receiving an average of 1,717 first
doses per week. Even with the 300 doses providers are being sent from the set-aside allocations
to support equity in the first week of February, this still puts us behind what we were receiving
before.
We have to ask: what happened?
Brunswick County has arguably the highest senior population in the state relative to total
population at 32.6 percent. Most other counties in the state with a higher percentage of seniors
have a total population ranging from 10,000 to 35,000; Brunswick County’s total population is
143,000—making us a unique outlier.

2. We all know the supply sent to North Carolina is too low and that you are trying to distribute
it in a way that is fair and equitable. But it is hard for us to understand why a county that has
worked so hard to do everything the State has recommended and more than meets the first
criterion for set-aside allocations seems to have been cut short.
We are also concerned that there are some counties in our state and region that still seem to
receive more vaccine because they have a larger total population than Brunswick County but
have fewer seniors when factoring for age.
As you recognized in your letter, we are demonstrating an exceptional display of partnership
with our hospitals and federally qualified health centers to pool our vaccines, staffing, and
resources to provide a mass vaccination clinic to our public—a clinic where we could easily
increase capacity for more appointments.
Our health and emergency services teams are already working to select potential sites
and prepare operational plans in the event we can open more locations to improve clinic
accessibility for our residents. This includes conversations and planning on how to reach more
residents in our Black and Latinx communities to ensure everyone in Brunswick County
gets a vaccine.
But we cannot increase capacity at our current clinic nor spread our vaccine outreach further
without more vaccine itself. We would need at least 2,250 first doses a week among Brunswick
County Health Services, Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center, and Dosher Memorial
Hospital to sustain our current schedules and sufficiently meet the demand in this county.
We respectfully request that you help us address these questions—many of which we have
received from members of our community:
1. Are there other factors that influenced the decision to send Brunswick County fewer
vaccines even after the State acknowledged it wanted to help counties that have a
disproportionate number of seniors?
2. What calculation data is the State using to determine how it distributes set-aside
allocations to Brunswick County and the rest of the state for equity? Will the State
provide a copy of such data to the County?
3. Was our baseline allocation affected by the State trying to make up for other counties
that received fewer in the previous weeks?
4. From its supply of 55,000 set-aside allocations, will the State commit to increasing
Brunswick County’s share to above 300 for the two weeks yet to be assigned to support
our efforts to equitably vaccinate those older than 65 and/or who are from historically
marginalized populations?

3. With the current baseline allocation we are set to receive for the next three weeks, Brunswick
County is moving backwards, not forwards. Should Brunswick County only receive its baseline
allocation going forward, our health professionals will be forced to reschedule up to 2,400
appointments for first doses currently scheduled in the second and third weeks of February.
We continue to stress how much we want to work with the State and will still distribute the
vaccine supplies we do receive as quickly as possible. However, if Brunswick County continues
to receive unrealistic vaccine allocations for the population make-up we have, we fear we will
be too far behind to adequately address even more eligible individuals when the time does
come for the State to announce the transition to the next group.
I look forward to further dialogue on how we can support the needs of North Carolinians and
Brunswick County residents together.
Respectfully,
Randell (Randy) Thompson
Brunswick County Chairman of the Board
910-398-1818
commissioner.thompson@brunswickcountync.gov
CC: The Honorable Roy Cooper, Governor of North Carolina
U.S. Representative David Rouzer
North Carolina Senator Bill Rabon
North Carolina Representative Frank Iler
North Carolina Representative Charlie Miller
Brunswick County Vice Chairman Mike Forte
Brunswick County Commissioner Marty Cooke
Brunswick County Commissioner Pat Sykes
Brunswick County Commissioner Frank Williams
Brunswick County Municipal Governments and Mayors
Alliance of Brunswick County Property Owners Association