NORFOLK, Va. — Joining other states, Virginia health leaders report a vaccine stockpile totaling close to three-quarters of a million doses, while vaccine rates trend downward.
“There is just less people to vaccinate. A lot of states are in this position," Christy Gray told 13News Now Monday.
Gray is the director of the Division of Immunization with the Virginia Department of Health.
According to data from VDH, there are 746,723 available doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the commonwealth. That's a combination of all three approved brands.
The Associated Press previously reported this dilemma in other states like Michigan, North Carolina and Illinois.
With demand as it is, the priority of Virginia's stockpile is to make its way into the arms of Virginians, and not be used in distribution to help other states with their vaccination efforts, according to Gray.
“If we’re hearing through our federal partners there is a state that has a need, we work to redistribute it, there just hasn’t been demand for that recently," she said.
The current stockpile is not only in place to continue reaching unvaccinated Virginians, but it also provides the state with a "game plan" in the event additional booster doses are needed to fight waning immunity.
Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said in a news interview this weekend that a fourth dose of their vaccine could be needed for future variants.
Gray said it's unclear at the moment whether an additional booster dose would mean the vaccine developers would create new variant-specific booster, or if the same vaccine vials they've administered for previous shots would be given out once again.
In this case, having more stock puts Virginia at an advantage if that becomes necessary.