All North Carolina Adults Are Now Eligible To Receive COVID-19 Vaccinations

Everyone over the age of 16 will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in North Carolina beginning Wednesday. 

Governor Roy Cooper celebrated the milestone at a press conference Tuesday, saying the vaccination process has gone much faster than initially expected. About a quarter of the state's adults and 65% of those over the age of 65 are now fully vaccinated. 

Cooper said as vaccine supply increases, the state's focus will shift to reducing vaccine hesitancy. 

“I think we're pretty quickly going to reach the point where supply will exceed demand and we're all going to have to flip it over to make sure that we are encouraging people to get vaccinated,” said Cooper. “And that's going to be something that we're all going to play a part in.”

The news comes as COVID-19 numbers continue to decrease across much of the state. 

A new county-level alert system map unveiled at Tuesday's press conference shows no red counties. Falling numbers in some areas prompted officials to introduce two new lower-tier color categories to denote decreased risk level. Light-yellow indicates moderate community spread, and green means low spread. 

North Carolina Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Mandy Cohen says this is the first map showing no red counties. 

“And this is great news,” said Cohen “While the number of orange counties increased from 21 from a previous 17, close to half of the counties in North Carolina are yellow. Thirty-one counties now fall in this new light-yellow category or moderate spread. And we have one green county — Allegheny County.”

Forsyth and Watauga Counties are both light-yellow. Guilford is yellow, indicating significant community spread. 

For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you're experiencing.