SUFFOLK, Va. — Some Hampton Roads Health Districts are moving through vaccinations faster than others.
Western Tidewater Health District leaders said their district has vaccinated almost half of its total population against COVID-19. It’s a major milestone in the fight to protect people against COVID-19's serious complications.
"It’s really exciting here in the health district," the district's Public Health Emergency Manager Will Drewery said. "It’s been very rewarding, but it has not been without challenge though and we recognize that."
Drewery said the district is almost to the finish line when it comes to vaccinating people in Phase 1B.
"This morning, we dumped in the last of our pre-registration list that falls into Phase 1B that are 65 and older, which is about 1,300 people," he explained.
Drewery said health district workers would soon start contacting people on the preregistration list who were between the ages of 16 and 64, with a pre-established health condition.
Then, after that, the focus will turn to Phase 1C. That includes people in food services, water and waste removal, and legal services.
"I’m comfortable saying that probably sometime within the next month we will move into Phase 1C," Drewery said. "Once we get there, that’s where we, as public health, are talking about mass public vaccination."
Drewery said the process was like seeing a light at the end of a tunnel.
"It is a very accomplishing feeling - and what touches me the most is how many people that we and our staff have touched through this whole thing," Drewery explained.
He said it didn’t matter what category you were in, if you want a COVID-19 vaccine and have not yet pre-registered, now was the time to sign up.
The Western Tidewater Health District is holding two mass vaccination clinics later this week.
One is in Courtland at the fairgrounds, and the other is in Suffolk at Hub 757. You will be notified if you are eligible for a shot.