Hi there Floyd Forum readers! This dispatch comes a day late but I hope you find it informative and helpful as we all navigate the vaccination process together.
I didn’t answer every single question I had with this report, nor, I’m sure, all of your questions. I’m going to keep tracking vaccination progress in the New River Valley and stay in touch with officials who can shed light on the process. That said, I’m very grateful to Steve Bunn for sharing his vaccination experience; to PIO Bobby Parker and Dr. Noelle Bissell for sharing key details about how vaccination occurs in the region and to pastor Scott Obenshain for supporting vaccination efforts and responding to my email promptly and kindly!
I hope you all have had a lovely weekend, despite all the turmoil we’re seeing unfold, and that you enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I have lots of reader emails to respond to tomorrow (thank you!) and I’m always open to receiving more. You can reach me at aspinksdugan@gmail.com.
-Ashley
New River Health District among first in state to move into vaccination phase 1b
While public officials and healthcare workers tout COVID-19 vaccines as a beacon of hope (and they are!), for the moment the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the country, including Virginia. Nearly 400,000 people in the Commonwealth have been infected with the virus since last spring. Nineteen thousand have been hospitalized, and more than 5,000 residents of Virginia have died.
The state’s positivity rate hit 16.8% on Sunday, Jan. 10. The Southwest region skewed that statewide average, as around 35% of people tested for Covid in the region returned positive results. Day after day, COVID-19 status reports from the Ballad Health hospital system report new all-time high positivity rates.
And in a press conference Jan. 6, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam offered a grim prediction. He said models from the University of Virginia project case counts will continue to increase daily until at least mid-February. However, that same day Northam shared updates about vaccination progress throughout the Commonwealth, as well as suggestions for how to speed up the process.
Vaccine Distributed More Widely
When Virginia received its initial allocation of vaccine doses in mid-December, only 18 hospital systems received shipments. The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association said in a Jan. 7 press release that since then, more than 269,000 doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been shipped to 67 Virginia hospitals. Those facilities have already administered more than 100,000 doses, according to the release.
Virginia residents in vaccination group 1a were prioritized for vaccines. This group of frontline healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities included about 500,000 people across the state. However, some individual health districts, including the New River Health District, have already successfully vaccinated all qualified 1a members and are moving on to group 1b. The Virginia Department of Health announced earlier this week that 11 health districts will begin vaccinating people in group 1b on Monday. All regions of the state should move into group 1b by the end of the month.
Moving Into a New Phase
Group 1b includes people 75 and older, as well as police, fire and hazmat; those at correctional facilities or homeless shelters; childcare/K-12 teachers and staff; food and agriculture; manufacturing; grocery store workers; public transit employees and both public and private mail carriers. The New River Health District launched a form earlier this week where folks in group 1b can pre-register for a vaccination appointment. Montgomery County Public Schools announced Friday that it would adjust next week’s school schedule to allow staff members to be vaccinated.
While a Virginia Department of Health spokesperson said during a Dec. 30 press conference that there was no official verification process for those requesting vaccines during phase 1a, in phase 1b, “proof of qualification is required,” the department said. It wasn’t clear from the health department’s announcement what type of proof exactly would be accepted.
New River Valley Leads the Pack
As has been reported, vaccine rollout overall has been slower than anticipated in Virginia. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the state received about 100,000 fewer doses of the vaccine in its original allocation than it anticipated. And as State Sen. David Suetterlein detailed during a visit with the Floyd County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 4, lack of staff to administer vaccines is also a problem. For his part, Suetterlein has suggested increasing capacity by waiving certain certification requirements for vaccinators.
Nonetheless, evidenced by the fact that the district is moving into phase 1b, in the New River Valley the rollout has been fairly successful.
“Vaccines are being given as quickly as possible,” said Bobby Parker, VDH Public Information Officer for the western region. “More than 3,000 (have been administered) in the New River Valley so far.” About 183,000 people live in the New River Health District.
Parker even offered some insight into who is getting which vaccine. It’s not particularly relevant, because both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are equally safe and effective. But it highlights the logistical differences between vaccinating those in hospital systems and more populous areas versus the more remote areas of the district.
Parker explained that VDH vaccinates emergency medical services personnel with Moderna vaccine, because it can be stored in a “regular freezer.” Hospitals vaccinate their staff and affiliated providers with Pfizer vaccine, which “must be kept extra cold” and requires the specialized equipment found in hospitals. “Under a separate federal program, Walgreens and CVS vaccinate long-term care … residents and staff with Pfizer,” he said.
As Gov. Northam likewise emphasized during his Jan. 6 press conference, Parker said assuredly that “no vaccine is wasted.” Northam explained that vaccines wouldn’t be administered to people outside the qualified groups—however, facilities with thawed vaccine that needs to be administered or risk expiration will publicize the availability widely to ensure the doses are used.
First-Hand Account
New River Health District Director Dr. Noelle Bissell explained how vaccine doses get from hospital systems to the arms of residents. The 67 Virginia hospitals that possess doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, in collaboration with their associated local health department, are tasked with making those doses available to healthcare workers both inside and outside of the hospital system.
As Parker explained, because the Moderna vaccine can be transported under normal freezer temperatures, it is more appropriate for these out-of-hospital staff, who may be located anywhere throughout the health district. “We’ve been doing the non-health system affiliated providers, EMS, (and) residential care staff,” said Bissell. “The vaccine can be thawed in the refrigerator and transported,” to an off-site vaccination location, she explained.
Steve Bunn received his first dose of the Moderna vaccine at one such community clinic this week. Bunn, who is a general dentist at a community health center in Christiansburg, qualified for the vaccine in group 1a. He was vaccinated at Blue Ridge Church in town.
“I had a great experience,” Bunn recounted during a phone call Wednesday. Bunn said he was made aware of vaccine availability via an “internal email” from his “medical director.” Health center employees were told they could visit Blue Ridge Church in Christiansburg by appointment, so that’s exactly what Bunn did. He believes strongly in the importance of being vaccinated and has shared as much on his professional Facebook page.
Bunn described a smooth and easy vaccination experience. He said there was no line to wait for a vaccine, and praised the friendliness and professionalism of the medical staff providing the shots. Bissell said these were Lewis-Gale resident physicians on a public health rotation, who had volunteered to help out.
Bunn said he was most impressed, however, with the follow-up procedure. When you get a flu shot, Bunn said, you’re typically handed a piece of paper about potential side effects and sent out the door. After he was vaccinated against COVID-19, he said, he was encouraged to wait for 15 minutes at the church to be monitored for adverse reactions.
After he left, he could use information from his personal vaccination card to register on a national CDC website. “The nice thing about that is, I know anybody who gets the vaccine, they’ll still go through the same follow-up routine that’s coordinated at the national level,” Bunn said. The site prompted Bunn to answer several questions about his vaccination experience and any symptoms he was experiencing. “It was the most thorough post-vaccination follow-up I’ve ever seen or heard of,” he said.
Speaking of symptoms, though, Bunn said he had virtually none. “I didn’t have any side effects really. Today my arm was a little bit sore, but I didn’t really have any side effects that were notable,” he said. He also said that in his view, even if there had been side effects, they would have been worth it. “Whatever the reported symptoms are, they’re nothing compared to not vaccinating,” Bunn said. “It’s never been a question in my mind about vaccination, because the things that people latch onto (to discourage vaccination)…are not based in fact.”
As for how the vaccine doses ended up at Blue Ridge Church, it was a bit of happenstance. Scott Obenchain is the lead pastor at Blue Ridge and also the volunteer chaplain for the Blacksburg Police Department, he said in an email. “The Chief of Police is on the Covid Task Force. He simply called me one day and asked if we would be willing” to share the church’s space, Obenchain said. “As a church we have always been for our community and we said yes. We believe in helping the place where you live and showing people we really do care. No matter where they are with faith or without faith.”
Bissell said vaccinations will continue at the Blue Ridge Church by appointment only. She called the church “the perfect set-up for a large-scale vaccination clinic, where we can administer hundreds to (more than) 1,000” doses per day.
For more information about when you personally may be able to get vaccinated, and to sign up for an alert when pre-registration opens, you can visit this VDH questionnaire.