Incoming 60k Dose | Local News

Charleston — West Virginia received approximately 60,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shortly after December 15 in the first wave of weekly distribution, with all residents having access to the vaccine by mid-March. I will.

Governor Jim Justice said during a pandemic briefing on Friday that doses would be delivered in batches every other week and Pfizer would send the first batch with a weekly order limit of around 16,000.

By the end of the month, Moderna will send about 26,000 batches in the first batch, with a weekly order limit of around 3,000-5,000.

These shipments rely on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve an emergency license on December 15.

Justice said the vaccine would first go to the National Guard hubs set up around the state for preparation and then to the county.

Frontline healthcare professionals and long-term care facility residents and staff receive the first vaccination. Each company’s vaccine requires two doses, three weeks for Pfizer and four weeks for Modana.

Vaccines then go to “community structure” workers, including first responders and public health workers.

According to justice, about 100,000 inhabitants fall into these categories.

Followed by essential workers such as the elderly and teachers.

The vaccine will be available to the general public after their first priority population has been inoculated.

“If you put in enough effort, I think it will be open to the public in mid-March,” he said.

General James Heuer, a National Guard adjutant, said the vaccine would be “degraded and diluted into an approved form” at five hub sites in the state.

According to Heuer, the NG has asked FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to fund it to attract more troops to help.

“We need more people to get this vaccine,” he said, and wants to “aggressively” give the people in the care facility the dose as soon as possible to “reduce the terrible loss of life.” I added.

According to Heuer, 47% of the 799 COVID deaths (as of Friday) in the state were residents of these facilities.

“Patience, this is a fluid surgery,” he said of the process of bringing the vaccine into the county.

The initial allocation of the vaccine will be distributed to five hub locations in the ultra-low temperature storage of Berkeley, Cabel, Greenbrier, Canauha, and Monongalia counties.

Currently, more than 500 potential sites are enrolled to assist in the distribution of vaccine doses, and he said he will promote more providers, pharmacies, and more enrollments. Vaccine dose supply will continue to increase in the weeks and months that follow.

Justice also eased the misconception that vaccinated people could get COVID from the vaccine.

“Vaccination does not give you a COVID,” he said, reviewing the approval process using tens of thousands of people in the trial. “I take mine in front of everyone.”

Justice said former President George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama were all receiving shots on television to set an example.

“Vaccines have no serious safety concerns,” he said of people’s concerns about side effects.

Justice also uncovered social media conspiracy theories.

“The federal government isn’t tracking you (with vaccines),” he said. “You are not being tracked.”

It’s up to the vaccinated people to end the pandemic, he said. Because it ends the ability of the virus to spread.

“It breaks the chain,” he said. “You can’t pass from one person to another … tests and masks can help break the chain, but vaccines are huge.”

Justice also agrees with President Joe Biden, who wants to keep wearing masks for the first 100 days after taking office (until April 20), but hopefully vaccination will not be so necessary. Justice has stated that it may not last long.

“He’s trying to do what we know we have to do,” he calls Biden’s plan “common sense,” and “who wouldn’t support it in their right mind?” I said.

However, the more people vaccinated, the less the need to wear a mask, he added.

Justice said that how long the immunity to COVID from the vaccine lasts is not yet known, as it is new and there is no way to know.

“No one knows for sure,” he said, but whether it’s six months, two years, or a lifetime, it stops the spread of the virus and is more effective when needed. Gives time to develop a long-lasting vaccine.

Moderna announced on Friday that the immunity of the vaccine will last for at least three months, based on a time frame that can already be studied.

The judiciary said the state would not launch a campaign to “sell” vaccines to residents.

“We’re going to educate people … it’s very minimal about how vaccines actually work and what the dangers are,” he said. “We’re going to educate, not sell. They (state residents) will make good decisions.”

At a field briefing on vaccines at the Mercer County Health Department on Thursday, county health officer Dr. Stephen Stephensick and pharmacist Dr. Daniel Wells, a member of the county health committee, said the side effects of the COVID vaccine were influenza. vaccination.

“Most vaccines usually have side effects,” Wells said, including headaches, malaise, and pain in the arm where the shot was given.

According to Wells, the vaccine can cause the same side effects as a flu shot, but it disappears relatively quickly, according to the information provided.

Wells also revealed the idea that vaccinated people could get the coronavirus by actually inoculating it, saying that the vaccine would elicit its own antibodies and provide protection against it.

According to Stefancic, side effects in studies and trials are similar to those of the flu vaccine, with normal fluctuations, and as with the flu vaccine, about 3-5% can have an allergic reaction.

He said that some groups, including pregnant women, should also be careful, as is always the case with any shot, which should be cleared by a doctor. Vaccines for children with COVID are not yet available, but the project is underway.

As more people get vaccinated, “herd immunity” is born, Stephanchich said. Vaccinated people cannot be infected with COVID-19 or infect others.

Both Stefancic and Wells said Mercer County was ready to accept, store and distribute the vaccine upon arrival.

Dr. Ayne Amjad, state health officer and director of public health, said Friday that there is a misconception that the COVID vaccine can be used to treat viruses in people who are already infected.

“It’s probably not a cure,” she said, but it’s just a way to prevent people from getting the virus.

Amjad said more research is needed in this area.

NBC News reports that even people who have already been infected with the virus and have recovered are recommended to be vaccinated to enhance prevention.

— Contact Charles Boothe [email protected]