Vaccination Wait Due To Limit On Doses: Fairfax Supervisors

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — More than a month into COVID-19 vaccinations, the Fairfax Health District leads Virginia in administering doses with over 50,000 given and more than 5,000 people fully vaccinated.

But Fairfax County supervisors say demand for appointments is higher than available doses after residents 65 and older and individuals with underlying health conditions became eligible for the shots.

On Jan. 18 the health department started taking pre-registrations by phone or online for the newly eligible 65 and older residents and those with underlying health conditions after Virginia expanded eligibility to those groups in phase 1B of vaccinations. Those groups joined others who had already been eligible as phase 1B started on Jan. 11: people 75 and older, certain essential workers and people in homeless shelters, correctional facilities and migrant labor camps.

For the Fairfax Health District, which includes Fairfax County and the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax, an estimated 40 percent of the population over age 16 are eligible for vaccinations under the current phase 1A and phase 1B groups.

That launch for the newly eligible groups didn't come without a hiccup. The online preregistration was not available for several hours on Monday, Jan. 18 due to a national outage with the technology vendor.

"When that happened ... everyone called the call center at the same time," Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw told Patch, adding that residents were able to preregister beyond the hours of the outage.

Even with that disruption, there has been a growing wait list of people eligible for vaccines. According to Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, about 115,000 people had signed up for their first vaccine dose as of Wednesday afternoon. For people who preregistered and are wondering when the health department will get back to them, Herrity told Patch the problem isn't scheduling; it's a matter of having enough supply to schedule all appointments right away.

"The vaccine's not sitting and getting unused. It's getting into people's arms as quickly as we can get it," said Herrity.

Walkinshaw was hesitant to commit to a date for when the health department can get through the wait list. He prefers to overestimate and believes it could take months to get through the group based on the current rate of dose distribution.

"Those 115,000 people, they met the criteria for the current phases, but they haven't been scheduled because we don't have enough doses for them," said Walkinshaw.

Ready for More Doses

Now, supervisors look to the state government to provide more doses so the health department can work through the wait list. On Wednesday, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay sent a letter to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam saying the Fairfax Health District has the resources to administer more vaccines and is ready for more doses.

"As it stands now, we have over 100,000 residents registered on the Health Department's system to get vaccinated," wrote McKay. "We average about 10,000 doses per week, which does not meet the demand nor the expectations of the 100,000 people we now have in the queue. We stand ready to expand our distribution to more eligible Fairfax County residents, should the Commonwealth increase our vaccine supply."

Herrity believes there has not been enough communication from the state about distribution.

"Right now our biggest frustration is not knowing how and when we're going to get the next doses," said Herrity.

Despite limits on the dose supplies, the health department can handle those awaiting their second doses. Herrity said as of Wednesday, 8,000 invitations had been sent out for people needing second doses, and 60 percent of these had appointment slots. He said individuals are notified to schedule the second dose four to seven days before they should get the second dose.
The health department is offering the Moderna vaccine, which recommends at least 28 days before the second dose. The Pfizer vaccine will soon be offered by the health department, and that vaccine recommends 21 days before the second dose.

"We are making sure we have vaccine supply for those second doses," Walkinshaw said.

Walkinshaw also confirmed with the health department that no doses are being thrown out. He said if someone misses an appointment, the health department will call someone to come in immediately.

"We haven't wasted any doses yet, and we don't intend to," said Walkinshaw.

The government center and five other locations are being utilized as vaccination clinics. Herrity said the county has partnerships planned with entities such as family physicians, CVS and Walmart to administer more vaccines.

"That is all lined up and ready to go once we get doses," said Herrity.

As the health department makes its way through the wait list, first doses will be prioritized for the 75 and over group, then the 65 and over and the individuals with underlying health conditions groups. If health care workers in phase 1a, preregister, they are pushed to the front of the line before phase 1b groups. Anyone who has preregistered does not need to fill out the form again.

Herrity is unaware if a vaccine update will be provided at the next Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 26 but plans to bring it up in board matters. Herrity and Walkinshaw agreed that the vaccine is a top priority for supervisors.

"It's so critical to our kids and our economy and everything else," said Herrity.

The health department's call center is available at 703-324-7404, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information about the vaccine and eligibility, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/health/novel-coronavirus/vaccine.