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CHARLESTON -- Gov. Jim Justice said he wanted to announce the immediate administration of COVID-19 booster shots, but legal issues arose and plans were put on hold.
Agreements are in place with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the federal government preventing the state from immediately providing booster shots, he said during his Monday pandemic briefing.
Now he's trying to expedite the approval of the extra dose.
"Our people are working on my direction to try to find a way that we in West Virginia can move right now," Justice said.
The CDC late Thursday approved third COVID shots for people with compromised immune systems. For others, the CDC approved booster shots the week of Sept. 20.
West Virginia residents were among the first receiving shots, meaning it's been six to eight months since many residents have received their vaccinations and the effectiveness of the vaccines has decreased, said Dr. Clay Marsh, coronavirus state leader.
Since the first week of July, there has been a tenfold increase of active cases and a tenfold increase of hospitalizations including in intensive care units and on ventilators, he said.
"We see this happening all across our state," Marsh said.
The time to move is now, Justice said.
West Virginia in the last eight weeks has seen a 26 percent increase of positive cases in fully vaccinated residents, Justice said. Hospitalizations of people fully vaccinated, called breakthrough cases, rose 21 percent, he said.
Deaths of people fully vaccinated rose 25 percent in the eight-week time period, Justice said.
Of the 2,529 confirmed deaths and 487 probable deaths connected to the virus, there were 62 breakthrough deaths, or 0.007 percent of people fully vaccinated, the state said..
"We need to move right now, especially with the approval of Pfizer (by the FDA)," Justice said. "We need to move, and we can't get past the legalities from Washington to move right this second."
Justice read from a statement he intended to make that the state was ready to immediately administer the booster doses. The governor said he can't explain the legal issues.
"Absolutely I'm ready to go. Now, if there's an agreement in place and everything, and we're researching any way and every way that we can get past that, and we're doing that right as we speak," he said.
Justice also went over the statistics from the state Department of Health and Human Resources, including more than 10,500 active cases and no green counties on the County Alert System map representing the lowest level of infection and percent positivity.
He remains reticent of imposing a mask requirement, but everything remains on the table and the situation is monitored daily, Justice said. However, Justice said the state is on the pathway for masks, virtual schools and more deaths.
"If this thing continues to escalate, every single one of those things are still on the table," Justice said.
Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com.