MORGANTOWN — The governor’s team unfolded a bit more news about the coming COVID-19 vaccines on Friday, cautioning that such things as precise timing and numbers of doses to be delivered are still in the works.
Gov. Jim Justice eased into the vaccine news by commenting on those who – in the light of state having 13 red and 13 orange counties on Friday – want to close the bars and restaurants.
“Somebody tell me how that is going to make an absolute significant impact,” he said. It’s more likely to have a negative impact by putting people out of business and jobs.
“We’re on a short fuse here,” he said. “We’ve got a miracle vaccine on the way, we think. … All we’ve got to do is just make a few more weeks, a very, very few more months and we’ll absolutely crush this terrible killer with the vaccine and the hope that’s on the way with that.”
The data shows, Justice said, that the two leading vaccines on the verge of being released have no serious safety concerns and won’t give you COVID-19. “Stopping a pandemic requires all the tools we have available and the vaccine is just one of those tools,” along with masks and all the other measures.
The vaccine, he said, will be the mot important tool in breaking the chain of the virus’s passage from one person to another.
The vaccine will be administered in phases as shipments come in. In Phase 1, health care workers will come first, followed by long-term care facility residents and staff, then community infrastructure and emergency response personnel, public health officials and first responders. This covers more than 100,000 people.
The first shipment expected on Dec. 15, pending FDA approval. Pfizer’s vaccine will come out first, followed by Moderna’s, said Justice and Adjutant General James Hoyer. They estimate the first shipment to come in just shy of 20,000 doses, with roughly 21,000 weekly thereafter.
Although the CDC is more cautious about the timing of full vaccination, he said, he’s optimistic. “This will not be a wait until the middle of July” process, he said. He’s hoping for mid-March.
The plan from there is to scale to five hubs – in Monongalia, Berkeley, Cabell, Kanawha and Greenbrier counties – and then out to 250 administration sites.
Justice addressed the conspiracy theories floating around on social media – that the vaccine will plant tracking chips in the person’s arm, and perhaps even some form of mind control device. “You’re not being tracked by the federal government if you get this vaccine,” he said.
Because the National Guard will be key in distributing the vaccine, Hoyer said he will apply with FEMA to approve additional Guard personnel to handle the job.
Asked if the state will do some kind of publicity campaign to encourage people to get the vaccine, Justice said there will be a campaign, but it won’t be a sales-style campaign. “We’re not going to try to sell the people of West Virginia anything.” It will be an educational campaign on how it works and any potential side effects and dangers – though there are not dangers reported.
The Dominion Post asked how Vault Health reports the results of the in-home saliva tests now available to state residents and how contact tracing will be conducted.
Justice opened by noting he has concerns about the test: It costs nearly twice as much as any other and the reliability remains questionable. “I’m not a wholesale buyer of where we are in this hone care stuff.”
Crouch gently contradicted the governor on the reliablity, saying its a PCR – polymerise chain reaction – test that is the gold standard.
On the reporting issue, he said Vault Health will report results as the other labs do: electronically to the Bureau for Publick Health and to the appropriate county health department. The response time is the same as for other labs.
He echoed Justice that they are comparing prices of tests; the state uses nearly 20 labls and the prices vary widely.
Crouch didn’t answer the contact tracing issue, leaving it implicit that it would be done the same way since the results are reported in the same way.
Tweet David Beard@dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
