Transylvania's Covid-19 vaccination backlog is relieved by large allotment of Johnson & Johnson shots.

The state granted Transylvania Public Health 2,400 doses of the one-shot vaccine because of the county's large population of senior residents.

Jim Jinkins, 67, after receiving his Covid-19 vaccination on Wednesday.

Dan DeWitt

Brevard NewsBeat

BREVARD — In previous weeks, seeking an appointment for a Covid-19 shot in Transylvania County reminded Jim Jinkins of trying to score free tickets to a Who concert when he was a kid.

“It felt like trying to get the rock-and roll-tickets from the radio station: dial, hang up; dial, hang up,” he said.

But on Monday a friend told him about a big increase in the number of available slots. He logged on to the Transylvania Public Health website and “bang, I got my appointment booked,” Jinkins, a 67-year-old animation artist from Brevard, said while sitting in his truck after receiving his shot at Wednesday’s drive-through inoculation event at Carr’s Hill Baptist Church on US 276.

Not only was the sign-up easy, he said, the event “was everything you would want it to be . . . It is organized. Everybody has a spectacular attitude.”

He actually called it “dreamy,” a word nobody used in the frustrating early days of the vaccination process.

After initially receiving only 200 weekly doses of the two-shot Moderna vaccines and relatively modest increases more recently, Public Health was granted 2,400 doses of the newly approved, one-dose Johnson & Johnson shots this week, county health director Elaine Russell told the Transylvania County Commission on Monday.

It planned to administer half of them on Tuesday and half of them Wednesday, she said. “Thursday we will do 600 Moderna first doses and Friday we will do 400 Moderna second doses. And on Saturday we will nap.”

The Johnson & Johnson vaccines came from a backlog that accumulated as the vaccine awaited federal approval, said Public Health spokeswoman Tara Rybka.

Russell attributed the county’s large share of that cache — eighth highest among North Carolina’s 100 counties — to the advocacy of local officials, including resolutions passed by both the County Commission and the Brevard City Council.

These resolutions made the case that Transylvania’s previous allocations were far from adequate considering that more than 30 percent of its population fell into the vulnerable, high-priority category of people 65 and older.

“Collectively, we have been heard and that’s why we received those 2,400 doses,” she told the Commission.

Nearly 40 percent of the county’s 65-plus residents have received at least their first dose, she said, a rate set to climb dramatically by the end of the week. But she also said the department has opened appointments to Group 3, which includes essential frontline workers, because signups of older residents had slowed.

This may be due to “some vaccine reluctance,” she said, but added that residents may feel less urgency because they anticipate greater availability of vaccines. Some may also be waiting to see if friends and relatives suffer severe side effects, she said, adding that “we have not any adverse catastrophic reactions in North Carolina.”

The level of access will not remain as high as it was this week, Rybka said. The next allotment of Johnson & Johnson vaccines will probably not arrive until the first of next month. But the county expects to receive a total of about 600 first doses of Moderna vaccines for the next two weeks, a number that includes a 100-dose share that Transylvania Regional Hospital has agreed to pass along to Public Health.

County residents can also access shots at Blue Ridge Health-Brevard Health Center and Walgreens pharmacy. Gordon’s and Ingles pharmacies have been approved as Covid-19 vaccine providers but have not received allocations from the state.

At Carr’s Hill, drivers cued up ro receive forms from public health workers and then inched forward for their shots. Afterwards, they waited at least 15 minutes to ensure they had avoided severe reactions.

Though it looked like a traffic jam, it actually represented a potential end to the county’s vaccination logjam, Rybka said.

Given the uncertainties that remain until regular shipments of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine start to arrive next month, she can’t guarantee that’s the case, she said, but “I sure hope so.”

Cars lined up for Covid-19 shots at a drive-through inoculation event at Carr’s Hill Baptist Church on Wednesday.

Tips or story ideas? Email Dan DeWitt at brevardnewsbeat@gmail.com