Press Releases

A new tool created by the NC Department of Health and Human Services that maps social vulnerability and vaccination rates by census tract has helped North Carolina vaccine providers increase vaccinations by 50 percent in 89 underserved communities.

As part of its ongoing effort to get more North Carolinians vaccinated and safely bring summer back, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is offering $25 Summer Cash Cards at select vaccine sites to offset the time and transportation costs of getting vaccinated.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today expanded its NC COVID-19 Dashboard to include a new metric – wastewater monitoring. Since January 2021, NCDHHS has been testing wastewater samples to look for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as part of the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System. This new statewide program, known as the North Carolina Wastewater Monitoring Network, is a collaboration between 11 wastewater utilities, 8 local public health departments and researchers at the University of North Carolina.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live fireside chat for rural communities on COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, May 25, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the NC Department of Public Instruction, announced today the expansion of the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer  program to provide benefits to eligible children under the age of 6 who are in households receiving Food and Nutrition Services (FNS). This expansion will provide benefits to families with young children and infants who need extra help buying food. The state will begin issuing P-EBT benefits to eligible children under the age of 6 starting this week.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging North Carolinians in the triangle area who are not yet vaccinated to attend the family-friendly, COVID-19 vaccination event – Bringing Back Summer “Vaccine on the Green” – on the Dorothea Dix Campus in Raleigh, Friday, May 21, through Sunday, May 23.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is extending open enrollment for NC Medicaid Managed Care through Friday, May 21. This extension will not impact the NC Medicaid Managed Care launch date of July 1, 2021.

In observance of National Dental Care Awareness Month this month and in its continuing commitment to improving health, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released the NC Oral Health Improvement Plan to stress the importance of oral health and to address oral health challenges affecting North Carolinians.

Based on a review of safety and effectiveness data from clinical trials in the United States and the expanded emergency authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC today recommended use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12 through 15. 

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 Support Services Program has helped more than 41,800 NC households isolate or quarantine during COVID-19.