Frontline health care workers in Southwest Virginia continue to receive COVID-19 vaccines, with clinics planned into next week.
Dr. Cynthia Morrow with the Roanoke-Alleghany Health District said Tuesday that nearly 300 of them got their first dose last week. Another 1,200 doses will roll out this week and next for EMT’s and paramedics that haven't received a shot yet.
The district is still focused on high priority health care workers, and these clinics are closed to the public. Morrow says her vaccine coordinator got emotional when the first shipments came in.
“That was quickly followed by a sense of – we need to really make sure we get this vaccine into arms as quickly, as safely, and as effectively as we can,” she said. "And the logistics, as you can imagine, are challenging.”
All shots administered in Southwest Virginia so far have been the Moderna vaccine, which will require clinics to administer a second dose within four weeks.
Morrow says the district is obligated to oversee both doses, so they're using a vaccine management system to send out reminders for that second shot.
“If we schedule one clinic, we automatically schedule, basically, the identical clinic four weeks later,” she said. “What we envision, is four weeks from Thursday for example, we would have two parallel processes going.”
She said learning the vaccine administration management system was the biggest challenge getting started, which included a pre-screening questionnaire for those getting the first doses. Morrow said she’s confident early problems with the system have been solved.
Vaccines for some long-term care facilities have started in Virginia through CVS and Walgreens, but Morrow says it’s not clear if those shots have started in Southwest Virginia.
She says most of the 20 COVID-19 outbreaks reported by the Health District Tuesday were in long-term care.
