Press release from Mountain Area Health Education Center:
The Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) and the University of North Carolina Asheville (UNC Asheville) have joined forces in the global fight against COVID-19. Starting in February and going through May 2021, the partnership between UNC Asheville and MAHEC will operate a COVID-19 immunization site at the UNC Asheville Reuter Center located on 1 Campus View Road in Asheville.
The indoor site will operate as vaccines are made available by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. This week the site is tentatively scheduled to operate Friday (2/19), Saturday (2/20) and Sunday (2/21) from 8-5 p.m. each day depending on vaccine availability. Appointments are required to enter the site. No one without an appointment will be allowed to enter.
Currently, according to NCDHHS guidelines, individuals 65 and older and all healthcare workers are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. To do so, please visit: covid.mahec.net (no “www” and no “https”) to register for the waitlist. Community members on the waitlist will be contacted to make an appointment as vaccines become available.
Future dates and hours of operation will be announced in advance and plans will scale over time to allow for 300 vaccines per day up to 1,950 per week as staffing and vaccine allotment allow.
“As a key community partner in Western North Carolina, UNC Ashville is honored to collaborate with MAHEC to provide lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines to our community,” said UNC Asheville Chancellor Nancy J. Cable. “Our joint COVID-19 immunization site further deepens the close collaboration our two organizations have fostered since the beginning of the pandemic and demonstrates our shared commitment to serving the needs of our community in Asheville and the region.”
“MAHEC and UNCA are eager to urgently vaccinate as many people as possible every week until COVID is no longer present in Western North Carolina,” commented MAHEC’s CEO Jeff Heck. “UNCA is a great partner and together we will work to bring the vaccine to as many residents as possible.”
UNC Asheville is managing and coordinating the vaccine site, logistics, traffic, and safety, while MAHEC is coordinating the clinical operations: pre-registration/waitlist, vaccinations, data entry and clinical and non-clinical volunteers.
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