COVID-19 Vaccination Waitlist FAQ

Buncombe County Health and Human Services (BCHHS) has launched a COVID-19 vaccination waitlist for individuals in the first three Groups of the State’s vaccination priority list: adults 65 and older, all health care workers, and front-line essential workers.

As we receive vaccine from the state, we open up appointments and use the waitlist to schedule our appointments. 

Individuals can sign up for the waitlist by calling (828) 419-0095 or by visiting www.buncombeready.org. Once you are registered on the waitlist, you will receive a notificaiton that you are on the Buncombe County vaccine waitlist. When an appointment is available for you, you will receive a notification via email, text, and phone call with instructions to call the Ready Team so that we can schedule your appointment. 

Who can sign up for the waitlist?

Vaccine supplies remain much lower than demand, so waitlist opportunities are only available at this time to those active groups identified by the NCDHHS. If you are in Groups 1, 2, 3 you can sign up for the waitlist.

The only required information to be added to the waitlist is your name, a reliable way to contact you and that you fall into one of the phases eligible for a vaccine at this time. There is no citizenship status requirements, cost, or insurance information required at any time during the vaccination process.

What happens after I sign up?

Once you are signed up for the waitlist, you will receive a confirmation email. The confirmation email should contain a waitlist ID number, your name, telephone number and email address. The waitlist ID number is an auto-generated number and is does not indicate where you fall on the waitlist. It is simply a placeholder number. 

When will I be called?

Once we have an available appointment and reach your spot on the waitlist, you will be notified by phone, email, and text that an appointment is available for you. This notificaiton will come from Buncombe County and from the number (828) 419-0095.

You will need to call us back at this number to schedule your vaccination. 

If we do not hear from you, we will send you a second notification the following week via phone, text, and email. If the second attempt at contacting you is unsuccessful, we will remove you from the waitlist. 

What happens if I miss the call?

If you miss the call, you can call us back at (828) 419-0095 with your wait list number, and if an appointment is available, the next available appointment will be scheduled.

We understand that it may not be possible for some folks to always answer the phone call, and we recommend providing a mobile phone number if possible. We can’t hold appointments for those who we have not made contact with because holding appointments means that we waste vaccine. We are doing our best to vaccinate everyone in the current phases as quickly as possible and have to keep booking appointments to avoid wasting vaccine.

Can I sign up more than once?

Please do NOT sign up more than once for the waitlist. In order to get through the waitlist and use staff time and resources effectively, we ask that people DO NOT sign up more than once.

I was on the list but got my vaccination somewhere else?

If you received your vaccination elsewhere and need to be removed from the Buncombe County vaccination clinic waitlist, please email us at ready@buncombecounty.org or call us at (828) 419-0095 with your waitlist ID number and name.

What if I am not in one of the current phases? Can I go ahead and sign up?

If you do not fall into the phased vaccination groups as set by NCDHHS, you will not be added to the waitlist.

Vaccination Group Deep Dive

Click on each phase for more detailed information about each vaccination group and to determine which group you are in. 

Group 1: Health care workers fighting COVID-19 & Long-Term Care staff and residents

Group 2: Older Adults

Group 3: Frontline Essential Workers

Group 4: Adults at High Risk for Exposure and Increased Risk of Severe Illness

Group 5: Everyone

Second Dose Information

Those who receive their vaccines on or after Jan. 20 will receive a card with the location, date, and time of their next appointment. You can confirm your second dose appointment by looking at the appointment card you received. We will also send out a notification reminder via all available contact information that we have to notify you that your second dose appointment is coming up. 

Please note that you will also receive an email from the North Carolina COVID-19 Vaccine Management System (CVMS) with more information about the shot you got and the date that your second dose is due. Additionaly, CVMS will reach out to you with an email notification prompting you to schedule a second shot as that date nears. If you received a vaccine directly from Buncombe County HHS, we’ve got you covered and there is no need to schedule a second dose appointment! Instead, refer to your vaccine card for more information on when and where to report for your second dose. You can also call the Ready Team at (828) 419-0095 to find out when your next appointment is.

Standby Vaccine Waitlist FAQ

There is a process in place to ensure that any additional vaccine that comes out of the vials gets into the arms of the priority groups from the waitlist (over 65 and healthcare workers). Usually, there are only a couple of doses left at the end of the day.

Please note other providers in our area have limited vaccines and are providing these to the community in different ways. This is the process that Buncombe County HHS follows. Other providers may have different methods for vaccine administration.

• Once immunization appointments are scheduled (currently scheduling a week out) the standby vaccine lead pulls 20 names from those next on the waitlist. We contact those on the standby list and make sure that they can get to one of the vaccine sites within 20 minutes of a phone call at the end of the day IF there is vaccine left.
• The only required information at the vaccine sites is name and date of birth. There are no citizenship requirements or payment required at the vaccination sites. 
• People remain on the standby list until they are contacted for a standby vaccine or their immunization appointment. They do not lose their place on either list.
• There is a process for administering extra vaccines at the end of the day. There is never a need to show up at the vaccination sites in hopes of extra vaccine availability as every dose is accounted for.