Governor Roy Cooper visits independent pharmacy in Wilmington on Thursday

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Governor Roy Cooper was in Wilmington Thursday afternoon to get a look at how COVID-19 vaccine efforts are going at one independent pharmacy.

About 2,000 people have received their COVID-19 vaccine at King’s Pharmacy and Compounding since the vaccine first became available.

Governor Cooper talked about the shift in focus and says all eyes are on the younger population now in an effort to keep kids in school.

“Ages five through eleven — we’re only at about 28% [vaccination rate] so we want to up that because we know that is the most important way to protect our students,” Governor Cooper said. “But we also know that science shows that a well-fitting mask makes a difference in our schools. The number one priority for us is keeping our children in the classroom, that’s where they learn best.”

He also mentioned the importance of wearing masks for everyone when indoors and says this is another factor that will continuously help to drive the positivity rate down.

Governor Cooper says the decision to visit an independent pharmacy like King’s is because sometimes community members have a greater trust in smaller, local pharmacies, which is something that can have a big impact on ramping up childhood vaccines and booster shots.

“Trusted people in communities, like pharmacists, can make a difference when they are engaging with people who they are engaging with anyways, regular customers who come in for their medical treatment and regular prescriptions. That conversation can be had — that the COVID vaccine and a booster is the right thing to do,” Governor Cooper said.

Another focus, aside from getting that five to eleven year old population vaccinated, is getting booster shots into arms of everyone else who is eligible to make sure each community has the strongest protection against the virus.

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