COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Increase Expected In Loudoun By Mid-March

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — The Loudoun County Public Schools system on Wednesday finished administering at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to all educators who want to receive it, according to Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall (D-At Large).

Speaking at the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce's Board of Supervisors Breakfast Thursday morning, Randall said teachers are among the current priority groups in the county who are getting the vaccine.

Loudoun County Public Schools began administering the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to employees on Jan. 15. Many school employees have already received a second shot of the vaccine.

The second dose of the Moderna vaccine are supposed to given four weeks after the first shot. Doses of the Pfizer vaccine are supposed to be given three weeks apart, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to data reported by the Virginia Department of Health 51,264 vaccine doses have been administered to Loudoun County residents as of Thursday. Nearly, 14,000 residents have completed the two-shot treatment to be fully vaccinated, according to VDH data.

Randall said the infrastructure is in place in the county to administer the vaccine, but a supply shortage is slowing down the vaccination process. “We can, in Loudoun County, easily vaccinate about 7,500 people a day,” Randall said.

But the county is receiving only 4,800 vaccines a week. “What we believe right now is in about mid-March to early April, we’ll start to see those vaccinations really, really increase,” she said.

Across Virginia, there are 1,077,936 people with at least one dose (12.6 percent of the population) and 393,306 with two doses (4.5 percent of the population).

On Feb. 11, the 7-day rolling average of percent positivity in Loudoun fell to 9.5 percent, dropping below 10 percent for the first time since Nov. 28, according to the VDH.

“The goal is to remain under 5 percent, so we’re still a long ways from there, but it is getting better,” Randall said.

Along with two vaccination centers in Sterling, the Loudoun County Health Department is partnering with the Purcellville Pharmacy and the Middleburg Safeway to administer COVID-19 vaccines to residents in western Loudoun County.

“The mayors in [western Loudoun County] have been very clear — and I think they are correct —that their people shouldn’t have to travel” all the way to the Sterling area to get vaccinated, Randall said.