The Cape Fear Valley Health Pavilion North (HPN) ExpressCare will temporarily close, starting Friday, Oct. 1, to all non-vaccination related visits. 

“The clinic closure is in response to the high demand for COVID-19 vaccine boosters at this vaccine clinic location,” said Christopher Tart, vice president of Pharmacy and the Cancer Center.

The Cancer Center, Physical and Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, and Health Pavilion North Family Care are among services inside the facility that will remain open. 

“We saw more than 400 people come to this location for their booster shots on Tuesday,” Tart said. “We want to be able to provide these boosters to the community as quickly and efficiently as possible, switching over to an all-vaccination operation at this location will allow us to do that.”

The vaccination clinic will be open for appointments Tuesday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and appointments can be made online for all the Cape Fear Valley COVID-19 vaccination clinics at https://www.capefearvalley.com/coronavirus/index.aspx. The clinics also allow walk-ins until they reach capacity. 

Individuals eligible for the COVID-19 booster and third doses include individuals 65 years and older, residents in long-term care settings, individuals with underlying medical conditions between the ages of 50 and 64, and those at high risk for severe cases of COVID-19 between the ages of 18 to 49. 

Those seeking booster shots must be at least six months past the completion of their first two doses of Pfizer vaccines. Only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for booster shots and those who received Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine can only receive a third shot if they are immunocompromised, a press release by Cape Fear Valley Health stated. 

The remaining Cape Fear Valley Health ExpressCare locations in the Highsmith-Rainey Specialty Hospital and at Bladen County Hospital in Elizabethtown are to remain open.