VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Health officials said vaccinating people in Virginia Beach is a process that won’t happen overnight.
The allocation of doses for individuals in phase IB: 25% for 75+, 25% for 65+, 50% for essential workers and individuals with co-morbidities.
Roughly 9,500 people are fully vaccinated in the city, which is about two percent of the city’s population. The city received 53,815 vaccine doses from the state. Leaders said that is roughly 26,800 first and second doses.
“We have a long way to go, this is just starting. Right now, our limiting factor is the vaccine availability.”
Virginia Beach Department of Public Health Emergency Coordinator, Bob Engle, said the city is receiving about 5,000 first doses of the vaccine each week.
As for second doses, Engle said the city received roughly 8,000 shots this week alone. He anticipates it will take another six to eight weeks to vaccinate people in group 1B.
“We know that there are 78,000 people that are pre-registered. At the Health Department, we have only vaccinated up to 25,000 people at this point,” Engle explained.
Engle said some of the people in group 1B who didn’t want to get the vaccine at first now want one and that increases the demand for the health department.
He explained, “They are seeing how it’s not affecting people adversely, so we are starting to see people change their minds and want the vaccine.”
Engle asks for people’s patience as workers and volunteers try to vaccinate as many people as they can. He said more vaccine doses should be available if Johnson & Johnson receives emergency FDA approval and Moderna and Pfizer increase their productions.
“We do expect vaccine availability to start increasing as we get into the middle and end of March,” Engle said.
Engle said everyone who wants a vaccine should be able to get one by this summer. He said 36 CVS Pharmacy locations in Virginia, including one local in Virginia Beach, will offer a total of 26,000 first doses per week for qualifying individuals. Engle said it is a direct federal supply and separate from the State’s vaccine allocations.
VBDPH is assessing local area needs to determine the best placement of Health Equity PODs and scheduling additional community vaccination clinics by appointment only.
Equity Vaccination PODs scheduled:
- Lake Edward and Bayside Communities, POD site is Enoch Baptist Church on Saturday, March 13
- Great Neck Community, New Hope Baptist Church on Saturday, Feb. 27, and Saturday, March 27
