VA Will Accelerate COVID Vaccinations Gov. Northam Pledges, Acknowledges Frustration, Confusion

- 'State will accelerate COVID vaccinations, Northam pledges.' Governor acknowledges frustration and confusion in vaccine rollout. Virginia Business, Jan. 27, 2021.



Amid recent criticism from local officials and Virginia residents over the state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout so far, Gov. Ralph Northam acknowledged citizen frustration and said the state is accelerating its efforts “to get more shots in more arms more quickly” and will also be “significantly expanding transparency.” “I understand your frustration,” Northam said during a news conference Wednesday. “I know you’re out of patience and I am as well. Everyone across the country is tired of the pandemic. We all want to put COVID behind us and get back to normal. We know that vaccines are the way out and everyone wants to get the shot now, and I get that.”

In the past week, state legislators and local elected officials have blasted Northam for the bumpy vaccine rollout, with Chesterfield County supervisors calling the process “totally defective,” and the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission saying the vaccination campaign has been “inconsistent” and “causing confusion and frustration” for citizens. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data examined by Becker’s Hospital Review, as of Tuesday, Virginia was ranked second from last in the country based on the percentage of distributed doses that have been administered in the state, 45.15%. VDH’s most recent data, which is about a day ahead of the CDC’s, shows an improvement at 49.2%. At the beginning of January, Virginia’s distributed dosage rate hovered below 25%.

Speaking Wednesday, Northam said that Virginia has administered 594,828 shots so far, placing Virginia at No. 11 out of the 50 states for the total number of doses administered. The state has also met its initial goal of providing 25,000 vaccinations per day and is averaging around 26,000 per day. Northam reminded Virginians that the first COVID-19 vaccination in the nation occurred just six weeks ago, on Dec. 14, 2020. Virginia has prioritized the vaccine administration, with the first doses earmarked for the roughly 500,000 health care workers and residents in long-term care facilities across the commonwealth. More than 520,000 doses of the two-injection vaccines have been delivered to that population at this point, Northam said Wednesday.

On Jan. 14, Northam expanded the eligibility pool for vaccinations to include all residents 65 and older, as well as younger people with certain health conditions, causing statewide demand to grow significantly, far outpacing the approximately 105,000 weekly doses the state has been receives from the federal government. Many localities have waiting lists for vaccines, and residents around the state have overwhelmed health districts, pharmacies and hospitals with calls, trying to make appointments. During his Wednesday news conference, Northam said that expansion was driven by outgoing Trump administration officials who told governors that the federal government would reduce vaccine shipments to states that didn’t expand eligibility to those 65 and under.

The only problem, Northam says, is that 2 days after being told to make that change, the states then learned that the federal government did not possess a vaccine reserve that the Trump administration had said existed. “That,” Northam said, “made a confusing situation even more confusing.”...

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