Three more of West Virginia’s hubs are expected to receive vaccine supplies today. That means all five hubs in the state should be able to distribute the vaccine to health workers and nursing homes by day’s end.
“We are expecting additional shipments to our remaining three hubs to happen today, then they will start pushing out to their coverage areas of the state later today and/or tomorrow,” Edwin “Bo” Wriston, a spokesman for the West Virginia National Guard, said this morning.
“By COB today, we should be fully operational at all five hubs across the entire state, and then, each hub will handle receipt, distributions, and delivery of the vaccines as they arrive from Pfizer.”
State leaders said the hubs that received the vaccine on Monday, the historic first day of distribution across the country, were in Kanawha and Monongalia counties.
As a result, state officials said during a Monday evening briefing, a doctor at Thomas Memorial Hospital in Kanawha County was the first person in the state to receive a vaccination.
The others hubs receiving shipments today are in Berkeley, Cabell and Greenbrier counties.
It was not yet clear today how many residents or total long-term care facilities had been vaccinated, but officials confirmed the effort had begun in West Virginia.
“Vaccinations started early this morning at facilities,” said Marty Wright, executive director of the West Virginia Health Care Association.
Adjutant Gen. James Hoyer of the National Guard said the Morgantown hub is responsible for distribution to 19 hospitals, and 10 of those received their distribution already.
The Charleston hug covers 19 hospitals, and 17 had received their distribution by Monday evening.
Pharmacy distribution will support 22 of 50 long-term care facilities in the initial run, Hoyer said, “so significant movement.”
“We felt we were making good progress. The majority of our healthcare facilities have planned over the next couple of days to actually administer into the arms of individuals so as not to disrupt patient care for normal operations,” Hoyer said.
“So we’re comfortable with the way things are moving right now.”
Today, the first COVID-19 vaccines arrived in WV! The Guard was ready to receive, repackage & ship out this life-saving product to our healthcare and long-term care facilities so that those on the front lines of fighting this pandemic got to receive the vaccine ASAP. pic.twitter.com/iGALD18VoX
— WV National Guard (@WVNationalGuard) December 14, 2020
Hoyer was among the advisers to Gov. Jim Justice to receive a vaccination on Monday evening.
Justice said he received the vaccine on camera to demonstrate to the public his belief that it is safe and effective.
Others to receive the vaccine on camera were DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch, coronavirus response coordinator Clay Marsh and State Health Officer Ayne Amjad. Photos on the governor’s Flickr page also showed first lady Cathy Justice receiving the shot.
Amjad, on Twitter this morning, said she experienced few effects aside from soreness in her arm.
Vaccine side effects day one: my arm is mildly sore- similar to as if I lifted 2-3, 25 lb bulky, bags of salt for my driveway yesterday. With only one arm. (Btw I have a skinny arm) But that is all? ??
— Ayne Amjad, M.D., MPH (@AyneAmjad) December 15, 2020
West Virginia officials have submitted the state’s initial Pfizer vaccine order to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, requesting the state’s maximum-allowed weekly ordering cap of 16,575 doses.
West Virginia plans to receive an initial allocation of about 60,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
For Moderna’s version of the vaccine, expected about a week later, Justice said the initial allocation in West Virginia has been increased to 32,600 doses.
News broke this morning that federal approval of the Moderna vaccine is expected as soon as Friday after a clinical trial showed a two-dose regimen is 94 percent effective and carries no serious safety risk.
Justice had initially said West Virginia would receive 26,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
There will be a limited supply of the COVID-19 vaccine when it first becomes available, so the vaccine will be distributed in phases, based on risk for contracting COVID-19.
West Virginia’s Phase 1 is a multi-pronged approach, starting with nursing homes and hospital workers, as federal officials have recommended.
The next rollout for Phase 1 includes emergency responders and public health officials.
Phase 1 continues with other health care workers.
Up next, still in Phase 1, are teachers and “other sectors for critical services to the state, continuity of government, associations, utilities and transportation.”
“We are planning to offer vaccines to all individuals identified in 1A through 1D within the first six weeks based on the allocation of vaccine,” Justice said.
“As our allocation increases and distribution occurs we will be able to move through the phases more quickly.”
Phase 2 is the general population. Justice said the general population is expected to begin receiving the vaccine next March.
That’s the basic plan, but there will also be some deviation.
“While we have phases lined up, it is not totally sequential,” General Hoyer said Monday evening. “They will go out across the various phases in some cases simultaneous efforts.”