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Policymakers at all levels of government are racing to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people to save lives and blunt the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. New research published in the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics provides a simulated model for drive-through clinics that can be used for mass COVID-19 vaccinations based on the successful use of such a clinic to address H1N1. The paper, "Lessons from Modeling and Running the World's Largest Drive-Through, Mass Vaccination Clinic," looks at data from The Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness department during the H1N1 vaccinations.

On a recent Saturday morning, Peggy Hoon got behind the wheel of her 2011 Toyota RAV4 and made the 300-mile round trip to Charlotte from her Raleigh home. After weeks of waiting on hold or hearing about COVID-19 vaccination events only after they’d filled up, the 65-year-old Wake County resident finally got a shot. She considers herself lucky and worries about equity issues that leave other seniors unable to find doses of the precious vaccine. State officials say the primary barrier to rolling out the vaccines has been a lack of supply. But the N.C. Watchdog Reporting Network found that in some cases, health workers are giving doses to people who do not yet qualify, according to guidelines from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

From last spring to the current semester, NC State professors and graduate and undergraduate student researchers have been applying their skills and knowledge to further our understanding of COVID-19. Robert Handfield, the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management in Poole College of Management, has utilized his work on the digital transformation of supply chains and the procurement of buyer-seller relationships, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector. “When COVID struck, I was asked by a colleague…to serve as a pro bono expert to the joint acquisition task force,” Handfield said. “This was set up to help the nation try to identify sources of PPE, [or] personal protective equipment, N-95 masks, gowns, gloves, etc.”

Don’t expect a jump in COVID-19 vaccination rates this week, as Houston’s hospitals and public health sites shut down their operations due to winter weather and slick, icy roads. Federal distributors postponed the delivery of more than 407,000 first doses of COVID-19 vaccines and 333,000 second doses to Texas due to the Arctic vortex that engulfed much of the country in snow, ice and freezing temperatures over Presidents Day weekend. At earliest, vaccine shipments will arrive on Wednesday and deliveries to vaccination sites around the state will depend on local conditions, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

We’ve been getting a lot of Good Questions about the vaccine. This question comes from Becky: “When the vaccine first came out, people with underlying issues were in Group 1b, now we are in Group 4. Why did that change and do we have an estimated timeframe as to when we will get to get them?” That timeline did change. Last month, North Carolina officials announced that the rollout groups would change. They said it was for the sake of simplicity. That meant expanding the vaccine to anyone age 65 and up. But also, reorganizing the rollout groups. The change bumped people with underlying issues down to Group 4.

The state has said it’s trying to align with the CDC guidance.