All Of Phase 1b Expected To Access Vaccine By End Of April In VA

VIRGINIA — Virginia's state vaccine coordinator concurred with a prediction from the Biden administration that anyone who wants the vaccine can get it by the end of May.

"When you take the number of eligible people to be vaccinated and shoot for … our target of 75 percent …our herd immunity target, I think it is very realistic to say that everybody in 1b who wants to get vaccinated, will be able to do that by the end of April," Dr. Danny Avula told reporters Wednesday about the timeline in Virginia. "And everybody across the board who wants to get vaccinated, will at least be able to get their first dose by the end of May."

Avula cited increasing allocations of Moderna and Pfizer two-dose vaccines, as well as the newly approved single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as the reason for his confidence in growing vaccination levels.

Virginia's first Johnson & Johnson shipment of 69,000 doses was expected by Friday, and the next chance the state will get to order this vaccine will be next Friday for a March 15 arrival. An additional 22,000 Johnson & Johnson doses are going to pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy program in Virginia.

The allocation of Moderna and Pfizer doses stood at 178,000 last week, and Avula expects it to increase to possibly 188,000 doses in the coming week. That doesn't include additional doses going to pharmacies in the federal pharmacy program.

"Up until this point, this has been all about constrained supply, and how do we make sure that it gets to the right places and focuses on the right population," Avula told reporters. "And while we absolutely need to still prioritize the most vulnerable, we are quickly moving to a scenario where supply is going to be here in a really significant way, and we need to maximize the channels."

Initially, the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being rolled out in mass vaccination events to work through health department wait lists. The state based the initial allocation on which health systems and health departments indicated they can do mass vaccination events.

The first allocations of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Northern Virginia will be 4,000 for Inova Fairfax, 1,000 for Prince William County, 1,500 for Arlington County, 1,400 for Alexandria and 1,500 for Loudoun County.

One of the mass vaccination sites happening this week in Prince William County is through Walmart. The mass vaccination clinic will help address Prince William County's wait list.

"All of those folks who do qualify into 1b, and particularly who are 65 and up, and who have been preregistered and waiting their turn, that can be used to populate the clinics that are going on," Avula said.

These mass vaccination clinics are closed to the public and are only open to those who preregistered and were scheduled for an appointment. Further down the road, Avula believes mass vaccination clinics could be open to the public with advance appointment scheduling.

Walmart's vaccination clinics started last week in Norfolk Virginia Beach, Roanoke, and Chesterfield. This week's clinics include Harrisonburg, Crater Health District, Damon, Emporia, Norfolk and Woodbridge. Next week's clinics will be held in Loudoun County, Richmond, Lynchburg, and the Piedmont Health District, according to Avula.

The current Phase 1b includes people 65 and older, people 16 to 64 with an underlying health condition or disability, certain essential worker groups, and people living in homeless shelters, correctional facilities or migrant labor camps. Phase 1c will include additional essential worker groups before opening up vaccinations to the public.

As of Friday, 2,175,489 vaccine doses have been administered in Virginia. That includes 1,412,203 people with at least one dose (16.5 percent of population) and 763,439 fully vaccinated (8.9 percent of population). The state is averaging 53,604 doses given per day, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

COVID-19 data

On Friday, 1,652 new coronavirus cases were reported in Virginia, bringing the seven-day average of daily cases to 1,489. At a peak, the case average had been 6,166 on Jan. 18. Northern Virginia had 464 new cases and a seven-day average of 385 cases. To date, 583,060 cases have been recorded across the state. There were 71 new deaths reported on Friday, bringing the cumulative death toll to 9,428.

SEE ALSO: First Virginia Child Under 10 Dies From COVID-19 Complications

Current hospitalizations stand at 1,221 statewide, a level last seen in early November. The number includes 254 in the intensive care units and 150 on ventilators. Northern Virginia has 239 current COVID-19 patients. Ventilator use among all hospital patients is at 31 percent, and ICU occupancy is at 79 percent, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

The seven-day average of positive PCR tests stands at 6.3 percent statewide as of March 1, down from a peak of 17.4 percent on Jan. 3. Northern Virginia's average is 6.3 percent on March 1, compared to a winter peak of 16.6 percent on Jan. 2. On average, 20,946 statewide PCR testing encounters are reported daily, down from a peak of 35,030 on Jan. 14.

Below are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Thursday to Friday:

• Alexandria: 10,404 cases, 511 hospitalizations, 123 deaths; increase of 15 cases
• Arlington County: 13,342 cases, 776 hospitalizations, 236 deaths; increase of 48 cases and one death
• Fairfax County: 67,399 cases, 3,536 hospitalizations, 990 deaths; increase of 207 cases, seven hospitalizations and five deaths
• Fairfax City: 497 cases, 38 hospitalizations, 13 deaths; increase of five cases and one hospitalization
• Falls Church: 354 cases, 20 hospitalizations, eight deaths; increase of two cases
• Loudoun County: 23,352 cases, 879 hospitalizations, 252 deaths; increase of 80 cases and two deaths
• Manassas: 4,029 cases, 162 hospitalizations, 41 deaths; increase of 11 cases
• Manassas Park: 1,129 cases, 66 hospitalizations, 12 deaths; increase of two cases
• Prince William County: 39,767 cases, 1,407 hospitalizations, 446 deaths; increase of 100 cases, 11 hospitalizations and four deaths
• Fredericksburg: 1,788 cases, 93 hospitalizations, 22 deaths; no changes
• Spotsylvania County: 8,402 cases, 283 hospitalizations, 102 deaths; increase of 17 cases
• Stafford County: 9,649 cases, 311 hospitalizations, 68 deaths; increase of four cases