Governor Cooper Visits Pharmacy in Wilmington to Encourage North Carolinians to Get Their Lifesaving Vaccines | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    RALEIGH: Today, Governor Roy Cooper and NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley visited and toured King's Pharmacy & Compounding Lab in New Hanover County, a local pharmacy distributing COVID-19 vaccines.

    "Our pharmacies are playing a key role in getting these safe, effective and free COVID vaccines into our communities and I'm grateful for their work," said Governor Cooper.

    "Our message to North Carolinians is to layer protection to prevent serious illness from COVID-19: get vaccinated, get a booster when eligible, and wear a tight-fitting mask," said NCDHHS Secretary Kody H. Kinsley. "We're grateful to our pharmacy partners who are a critical part of getting vaccines and boosters into arms and blunting the impacts of this virus."

    King's Pharmacy & Compounding Lab is a locally owned pharmacy in the Wilmington area. The pharmacy is distributing Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for adults and Pfizer vaccines for children ages 5 and up.

    "It is still imperative to get vaccinated today, to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community," said Buck Martin, Owner and PharmD of Kings Pharmacy & Compounding. "COVID-19 is still going strong and the vaccines are effective. We can fight this together."

    North Carolina laboratories reported that they performed 2,627,371 COVID-19 tests across the state during the month of January. This includes 62,780 tests to K-12 schools and 174,854 tests to long-term care and assisted living facilities.

    To date, North Carolina has administered more than 15.5 million doses of the vaccine. Seventy-five percent of adults have received at least one shot, including 96 percent of North Carolinians ages 65 and older. Seventy-one percent of adults have been fully vaccinated.

    Safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are authorized for everyone 5 and older, and boosters are available for everyone 12 and older.

    Of COVID-19 patients in the hospital, 68.2 percent are unvaccinated, 26.8 percent are vaccinated but not boosted, and 5 percent are vaccinated and boosted. In intensive care, 79 percent of patients are unvaccinated, 18 percent are vaccinated but not boosted, and 3 percent are vaccinated and boosted.

    NCDHHS encourages the use of well-fitting, multi-layer masks to protect against the spread of the virus, and the department is distributing N95 masks to local partners. Over seven million masks were sent out across the state in January.

    North Carolinians can learn more about the state's vaccine distribution at myspot.nc.gov (English) or Vacunate.nc.gov (Spanish). Find a nearby vaccine provider using NCDHHS' online tool, Find a Vaccine Location. The state's COVID-19 vaccine hotline number is 888-675-4567.

    Video footage of this event will be available for media use here and here.

    Photos of this event will be available here, credit to Alexandria Sands of Port City Daily.


    Contact: Jordan Monaghan

    Phone: (919) 814-2100  •      Email: govpress@nc.gov