The COVID 19 vaccine is available to anyone in Groups 1-4 by calling the Toe River Health Dept at 682-6118 ext 8, Yancey COVID Helpline at 675-6197, or Burnsville Health Clinic at 675-4116. There is no cost associated with the vaccination and you do not have to have insurance in order to be vaccinated. Vaccinations are done by appointment only by calling the numbers above. If you or a loved one are home bound, Yancey County EMS will come to your home to give you the vaccine.
Groups 1-4 include, but are not limited to, persons who work in the healthcare or educations fields in any capacity or were considered “essential” during the early months of the pandemic. If you are age 65 or over, you are an automatic for receiving the vaccine. Persons age 16-64 who work in a convenience store, construction, bank, hardware store, grocery store, local, state, or federal government, or have certain medical conditions such as asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes are eligible for the vaccine. At this point in the process, there are very few people who do not qualify to be vaccinated. If you are retired/unemployed and under 65 with no medical conditions, you will be in Group 5 but should be able to get vaccinated very soon. If you have any doubts for which group you are in, please call the COVID Helpline for clarification.
According to the NC Department of Health & Human Services COVID19 Dashboard, Yancey County has only vaccinated 41.3% and 36.5% of the 75 & over and 65-74 age groups respectively. These groups have been fully eligible for many weeks and are at the highest risk for being hospitalized or dying from the virus. It is critical that as many people as possible receive the vaccine in order to slow the spread and put an end to the pandemic as soon as possible.
Although the virus is subsiding a bit, we are not out of the woods yet. In recent weeks we have seen an uptick in cases around the county. Please remind your neighbors that just because Groups 3 & 4 are being vaccinated doesn’t mean Groups 1 & 2 are no longer eligible.
