COVID-19 Vaccine
Safe and effective vaccines will help us defend against the COVID-19 virus, and New Hanover County Public Health is actively working to serve our entire community with the guidance and vaccination groups in the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services (NCDHHS) vaccination plan. The plan is broken into five groups, with targeted populations prioritized to receive the vaccine in each group. Everyone who wants the vaccine will eventually be able to get one for free, but the process will take months based on the supply of the vaccine and the high need. Until the vaccine is more widely available, we strongly encourage you to continue practicing the 3 Ws – Wear a face covering, Wash your hands and Wait six feet apart.
New Hanover County is currently in Group 2 of the plan.
View detailed definitions of the groups below.
El condado de New Hanover se encuentra actualmente en la Grupo 2 del plan.
Información en Español aquí
Click here for more group details.
Vaccination Appointments (Get Your Spot)
**All appointments through Public Health are currently full**
New Hanover County Public Health will notify the public as additional vaccines are received and can be distributed to those eligible in Groups 1 & 2. Vaccination locations will not be able to serve any resident that does not currently have an appointment, and walk-ups will not be seen at this time.
The county is not currently taking names for a waiting list, but residents can sign up for COVID-19 updates here and will receive an email or text when new appointments are available for scheduling.
Below are the current entities offering appointments, when they have vaccine on hand, to those in the community who are eligible under the state’s vaccination plan:
- NHC Public Health: Vaccinations can be scheduled through an online scheduling system and by calling 910-798-6800 when appointments are available.
- NHRMC: Vaccinations can be scheduled at nhrmc.org/coronavirus or by calling (910) 662-2020 when appointments are available.
- Wilmington Health: Vaccinations can be scheduled at WilmingtonHealth.com/COVIDvaccine or by calling (910) 407-5115 when appointments are available.
- Walgreens: Vaccinations can be scheduled online here for participating local Walgreen locations when appointments are available.
Please note: appointments are only available based on the vaccine supply and are limited at this time.
Group Definitions
Group 1: Health care workers fighting COVID-19 & Long-Term Care staff and residents
- Health care workers with in-person patient contact
- Long-term care staff and residents—people in skilled nursing facilities, adult care homes and continuing care retirement communities
Group 2: Older adults
- Anyone 65 years or older, regardless of health status or living situation
Group 3: Frontline essential workers
Frontline essential workers are people who:
- Must be in-person at their place of work
- Work in one of the eight essential sectors listed below:
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- Critical manufacturing (medical supplies or equipment, products for food or agricultural supply)
- Education (K-12 teacher and support staff, child care staff, college and university instructors and support staff)
- Essential goods (grocery stores and pharmacies)
- Food and agriculture (meat packing, food processing, farm workers, migrant farm/fishery workers, food distribution, restaurant workers)
- Government and community services (U.S. Postal Service, court workers, elected officials, clergy, homeless shelter staff)
- Health care and public health (including social workers)
- Public safety (Firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, corrections workers, security officers, public agency workers responding to abuse and neglect)
- Transportation (Public transit workers, DMV workers, transportation maintenance technicians, highway infrastructure workers)
Group 4: Adults at high risk for exposure and increased risk of severe illness
- Anyone 16-64 years old with high-risk medical conditions that increase risk of severe disease from COVID-19 such as cancer, COPD, serious heart conditions, sickle cell disease, Type 2 diabetes, among others, regardless of living situation
- Anyone who is incarcerated or living in other close group living settings who is not already vaccinated due to age, medical condition or job function
- Essential workers not yet vaccinated. The CDC defines these as workers in:
- Transportation and logistics
- Food Service
- Shelter & Housing (e.g., construction)
- Finance (e.g., bank tellers)
- IT & Communications
- Energy
- Media
- Legal
- Public Safety (e.g., Engineers)
- Water & Wastewater
Group 5: Everyone who wants a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccination
We expect this vaccination event to take several months, so it is important to be patient and to continue the protective measures already in place throughout this process, regardless of vaccination status.
Vaccines are one way to prevent serious illness from spreading, but it’s important to remember that it is not a cure or the end of COVID-19. To keep everyone safe, we must continue to use every tool in our toolkit – wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, washing our hands, staying home if sick, and other daily protective measures. We expect this vaccination event to take several months, so it is important to be patient and to continue the protective measures already in place throughout this process, regardless of vaccination status.