Press Releases

Children ages 5 to 11 can now receive a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized a lower dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children in this age group, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend all children 5–11 get the vaccine to protect against serious illness and help keep them healthy.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released the North Carolina Violent Death Reporting System (NC-VDRS) Data Dashboard, an interactive online dashboard that provides aggregate information on violent deaths for all 100 counties in North Carolina. The NC-VDRS dashboard, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was created to make data more accessible to public health partners to inform the development, implementation and evaluation of prevention efforts around violence and safety.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services joined approximately 40 cross-sector health care organizations committing to using and sharing high-level data about race, ethnicity, language and gender to inform best practices to promote health equity.

The $25 Summer Card pilot program operated by North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) was successful in encouraging COVID-19 vaccination, according to a published research letter by authors from NCDHHS, the Advanced Center for COVID-19 Related Disparities (ACCORD) at the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), and the Departments of Biostatistics and of Health Behavior at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill).

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released a draft of its Olmstead Plan designed to assist people with disabilities to reside in and experience the full benefit of inclusive communities. The plan is open for public comment through Nov. 8, 2021. NCDHHS encourages all interested individuals and organizations to provide comment on this draft plan. NCDHHS will publish the final, two-year plan in December and begin implementing activities outlined in the plan in calendar years 2022 and 2023.

In an effort to promote COVID-19 vaccination among the Hispanic and Latinx community, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is partnering with multiple organizations to inform soccer fans on the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination during the Mexico vs. Ecuador international friendly soccer match on Oct. 27 at Bank of America Stadium, the home of Charlotte FC.

COVID-19 vaccine booster shots are now available for more North Carolinians. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 booster shots to help strengthen and extend protections against COVID-19 infections.

As COVID-19 cases surged this summer fueled by the Delta variant, hospitalizations and deaths among residents in North Carolina long-term care facilities were significantly lower than during the winter surge, as shown in data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The decrease in cases and severe illness can be attributed to vaccination for residents and staff of long-term care facilities and to the work done by long-term care providers to implement measures to protect staff and residents from COVID-19.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released a funding opportunity that will award a total of $5.8 million to at least nine organizations statewide to increase access to high-quality opioid use disorder treatment for people in the criminal justice system.

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D. has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) for her work in creating a strategic alignment to bring about critical improvements in health.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has expanded its vaccine data dashboard to provide more statewide demographic data for COVID-19 vaccinations. Users will be able to see vaccination rates by race for age groups and ethnicity for age group. The information will be displayed on a new tab named “Additional NC Demographic Data” on the dashboard.

Nearly all 10,000 employees at state-operated healthcare facilities are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and compliant with a mandatory vaccination requirement, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The department’s Division of State Operated Healthcare Facilities (DSOHF), a state-operated health care system comprised of 14 facilities, moved to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in July.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19. Seventy percent of North Carolinians age 18 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Residents in three western counties impacted by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred can apply for help buying food through the Disaster Food and Nutrition Services (D-FNS), or Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) beginning Monday, Oct. 4, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced.

Today, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services updated North Carolina county vaccination data from the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Indian Health Services and Federal Bureau of Prisons to reflect the county of residence for the person vaccinated. This will result in the vaccination rate changing for several counties on the North Carolina COVID-19 Dashboard.

Beginning Oct. 4, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 Support Services Program, along with the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina will provide food assistance to North Carolinians in 34 counties who face food insecurity resulting from the need to isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19. Additionally, NCDHHS is expanding program eligibility to North Carolinians in those counties who are at high risk for severe illness due to COVID-19, as defined by the CDC.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today, Sept. 30, at 5 p.m. will host a live fireside chat and tele-town hall on NC Medicaid and COVID-19 testing, treatment and prevention, including safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced it is working with the United States Department of Agriculture to help prevent the spread of rabies by distributing oral rabies vaccine for wild raccoons along western North Carolina’s borders with Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia.

North Carolina’s Community Health Worker Initiative will expand as part of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's Community Health Workers for COVID Response and Resilient Communities (CCR) initiative. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services was awarded a total of $9 million with $3 million per year distributed over the next three years.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper issued Executive Order 234 extending, but not waiving, proof-of-immunization and health assessment documentation deadlines for school and child-care facilities. To ensure children are not excluded from school because of increased demands on health care providers amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the order will give students and families more time to complete their required vaccines and health assessments. Vaccinations and health assessments are essential to protecting public health and should not be skipped or ignored.