CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A virtual line is already forming for the coronavirus vaccines that’ll be available in West Virginia in the opening months of 2021 when supplies are expected to increase.
Currently, the Mountain State’s vaccination plan is in Phase One which has started with initial shots at nursing homes and long-term care facilities, hospitals, pharmacies and other healthcare and emergency response facilities under a priority list from the Joint Interagency Task Force for Vaccinations.
“We want to get to vaccine in the arms of each West Virginian as quick as humanly possible,” said Dr. Clay Marsh, vice president and executive dean of health sciences at West Virginia University and a member of Governor Jim Justice’s Coronavirus Task Force.
“We know the faster we use the vaccine, the more we can ask for.”
As of Wednesday morning, information from the state Department of Health and Human Resources showed more than 37,000 doses of the upwards of 86,000 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines received up to that point in West Virginia had been administered.
Phase One for vaccinations has multiple levels — Phase 1-A, 1-B, 1-C and 1-D.
It was expected to stretch through January and into February.
The general population won’t have access to vaccines until Phase Two. Officials have estimated West Virginia will reach that phase in March.
Generally, Phase 1-D is when vaccinations will begin to move largely beyond healthcare settings to other sectors deemed critical to state and government services starting with people over the age of 50.
Prep work for that sub-phase was already well underway in the closing week of 2020.
Included in Phase 1-D were utilities, transportation, associations, higher education and K-12 faculty and staff and those necessary for “continuity of government.”
One of the organizations working to connect people in those categories to registration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccination Administration Management System was the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.
“We’re pleased to be part of the process and, hopefully, helping to eliminate myths about the vaccination and encourage our members to participate. This is a great opportunity,” said Rebecca McPhail, president of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.
Her association has nearly 200 members, mostly larger manufacturing companies.
As for the response from employees to vaccine requests, “Really, it’s a mixed bag,” McPhail told MetroNews.
“The companies and the folks that we deal with in the health and safety arena and in the human resources arena are very interested in making sure that their folks are vaccinated and that they’re operating in a safe way.”
From an employee perspective, she said there was still work to do.
McPhail said initial outreach started the week before Christmas. Out of the gate, she estimated about 60 percent of employees within member organizations for the West Virginia Manufacturers Association were interested in getting vaccinated.
“Another role that we can play is to help educate folks about the safety and the research that’s gone into that and what the actual side effects are versus what you might read on social media or something,” McPhail said.
On the current timeline, McPhail’s members could be vaccinated as soon as mid-January.
Michele Crist, executive director of the West Virginia Broadcasters Association, had more than 200 responses just 24 hours after first reaching out to employees at television and radio stations statewide about vaccine interest.
Those employees were also in Phase 1-D.
“They will take age 50 and above first and then 50 and under after that,” Crist said.
She has been told those vaccinations could start by mid-February.
Dr. Marsh said that age, 50, was chosen for a reason.
“We know of people that have died in West Virginia that, if we could protect all those people over 50 years old, then we would actually protect 97 percent of that age group where we see the deaths in West Virginia,” he said.
While going through the different levels of Phase One, Marsh there would also be an “overlapping” effort to get vaccines to citizens at age 70+ utilizing a growing vaccination network that was to be up and running within a week or two.
Part of that depended on ongoing vaccinations of potential future vaccinators.
“This is a decentralized delivery network that we’re building now versus what we’ve done which has been really a more centralized delivery,” Dr. Marsh said this week during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.”
“I think, with the team we have, we’re going to get through this very quickly.”
Since the start of vaccinations on Dec. 14, state goals have included protecting the most vulnerable, reducing deaths and hospitalizations and maintaining critical services and acute care.
West Virginia Covid-19 Czar Dr. @claymarsh talks with @HoppyKercheval about the rising covid numbers in the state and vaccinations. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/IlNPKlK6lR
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) December 29, 2020