Fairfax Vaccine Update: Some Medical Providers To Offer Vaccine

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A small number of private health care providers will join the current vaccinators administering the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, the Fairfax County Health Department announced Friday.

"We know many residents in our community will be excited to hear that their own health care providers may soon offer vaccine," said Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu, the Fairfax County Health Department director. "However, we do encourage residents to be patient while more practices meet the state requirements. Once a provider is able to offer vaccine, they will notify their patients directly."

Health care providers offering the vaccine worked with the state and local health departments to meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to be COVID-19 vaccine providers. Additional health care providers are going through the process to be approved with assistance from the Fairfax County Health Department. The health department aims to increase the number of health care providers offering the vaccine over time so residents can get vaccinated by their trusted provider.

SEE ALSO: Guidance On Virus Variants Offered By Fairfax Health Officials

Anyone who is on the health department's vaccine wait list but receives the vaccine from another source such as a private provider or CVS can cancel their health department registration. This will allow the health department to more quickly reach others on the wait list.

Eligible residents in the Fairfax Health District can register for the vaccine with the health department or confirm they are registered.

After working through over 44,000 people who registered for the vaccine on Jan. 18, the health department is working through registration days more quickly. On Friday morning, the vaccine data dashboard reflected that the health department was making appointments for people who registered on Jan. 22. Later that day, the dashboard showed appointment scheduling advanced to people who registered on Jan 26. As of 5 p.m. Friday, 104,279 people are on the wait list, or 33 percent of the 312,023 who have registered.

The health department is seeing an increase in weekly allocations. On Friday, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said in his newsletter Fairfax received 31,000 doses this week, compared to 13,500 doses a few weeks ago.

For questions about the vaccine, call the Fairfax County Health Department's vaccine hotline at 703-324-7404 Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information is available at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/health/novel-coronavirus/vaccine.