Breaking News
Coronavirus

West Virginia gets first batch of COVID vaccines

By Steven Allen Adams 4 min read

CHARLESTON -- The first batches of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were delivered to hubs in Kanawha and Monongalia counties Monday, with deliveries to additional hubs scheduled today.

Gov. Jim Justice received the vaccine Monday evening over video livestream on YouTube to demonstrate his confidence in the vaccine and to encourage all West Virginians to take the vaccine once it is available for the general public.

"Today is a historic day today in our country and an accomplishment unbelievable to be able to get out a vaccine and get out this quickly and get it out through the FDA and get all the fine-print approval in every way to be able to start administering these vaccines," Justice said.

The state pandemic leadership team also received the vaccine Monday evening, including Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch, State Health Officer Ayne Amjad, West Virginia National Guard Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, and State Coronavirus Czar Clay Marsh. The first vaccines were administered at the Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston. Dr. Kishore Challa, a cardiologist at the hospital, was one of two vaccine recipients.

"I am privileged to be the first person in the State of West Virginia to get the vaccine," Challa said Monday evening. "Always I tell people don't be afraid of the vaccine, be afraid of the virus. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel."

The West Virginia National Guard released video Monday of guardsmen unpacking the vaccines, with WVU Medicine announcing on Twitter they received some of the first doses. Additional doses will be sent to distribution hubs in Greenbrier, Cabell, and Berkeley counties today.

"Those hubs are, in fact, processing vaccines for distribution to other sites within their regions of the hub," said Hoyer, the adjutant general of the National Guard, during an earlier COVID-19 briefing. "At this time, things continue to move along smoothly."

"Our National Guard is all on this," Justice said. "They'll be distributing it all across the state and they're doing it right now."

The first doses for phase 1-A of the state's vaccination plan are set to go to long-term care facility staff, emergency medical services personnel, hospital staff, state and local health department personnel, clinic and outpatient staff, home health and hospice workers, pharmacy employees, dental office staff, and other healthcare workers.

Phase 1-B includes teachers and education staff, critical state services, continuity of government, utilities, and transportation. Phase 2 will include the general populace.

Employers will notify staff on when and where to schedule vaccination appointments. Vaccinating residents of nursing home and long-term care facilities is also a priority. Phase 1 vaccinations will take place between December and February as doses become available. Phase 2 vaccinations will likely start in March. A key priority, once more vaccines become available, will be vaccination residents age 60 and older.

"By working with our partners, we will take care of those in nursing homes and long-term care facilities," Justice said. "We just need to dial into age, age, and age."

The state COVID-19 Vaccination Program has four distribution priorities: reduce the rate of hospitalizations, which continue to break daily records; reduce the rate of deaths; protect the most vulnerable; and maintain acute critical care services. Vaccines will be distributed in phases to segments of the population based on risk as doses become available.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave approval on Friday for an emergency use authorization application by Pfizer and BioNTech, with the first deliveries of the vaccine going out Sunday from the company's distribution center in Michigan. The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses taken three weeks apart. The vaccine must be kept at -70 degrees Celsius.

"If you take two, upon the second one you're 95-percent covered," Justice said. "On the first one you have some significant coverage."

The FDA will likely approve a similar vaccine developed by Moderna later this week, providing the state with additional vaccine doses to distribute.

"I cannot express how incredible the achievement of all of this has been," Justice said. "I want all of West Virginia to know that I have all the faith I can possibly have that this vaccine will work and that this vaccine is safe … I want everyone to know I think it's good to go."

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

Starting at /week.