Six hospitals in the Cape Fear region are expected to start getting COVID-19 vaccines next week with at least one facility expected to receive doses Monday.
Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville is expected to receive 2,975 doses of the vaccine, according to state Department of Health and Human Services records. Bladen County Hospital in Elizabethtown and Hoke Hospital in Raeford, which are both part of Cape Fear Valley Health system, each will get 975 doses.
Cape Fear Valley officials say they expect the health system’s vaccine shipment to arrive Monday or Tuesday.
Betsy Johnson Hospital in Dunn, which has a management agreement with Cape Fear Valley Health, also is expected to receive 975 doses.
Hospital officials who have spent months making sure their facilities have enough space, equipment and supplies for a spike in COVID-19 cases are worried now about having enough nurses to care for the influx of patients.
Cumberland County and the surrounding area have been seeing increases in COVID-19, which is caused by a highly infectious coronavirus. Hospitals in the region are dealing with the worst cases.
Statewide, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has nearly doubled in the past month. On Wednesday, 2,440 North Carolina residents were in hospitals because of the disease, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.