MORGANTOWN — West Virginia is plowing ahead on COVID-19 vaccinations as the death toll continues to climb.
Gov. Jim Justice opened Wednesday’s briefing with the bad news: 60 more people died since Monday, bringing the toll to 1,039.
But most of the rest of the day’ briefing was spent on the vaccine program.
Justice said CVS and Walgreens have an agreement to vaccinate nursing home residents across the country starting Monday. But West Virginia is moving faster. “We’ve already vaccinated 2,000 people in our long-term care facilities, and their staff, so we’re moving.”
More that 40% of West Virginia’s pharmacies aren’t chain affiliated, he said, so they’ve partnered with all the pharmacies in order to move faster. The intent is to vaccinate all nursing home and assisted living residents and staff within 30 days, but they’ll go faster than that.
Todd Jones, President of AMFM Nursing & Rehabilitation Centers – which operates 19 centers across the state – said that on Tuesday they vaccinated 1,830 people in 16 of their centers and by the end of Monday expected to have vaccinated everyone in 25% of the skilled nursing facilities in West Virginia.
“We hope to be done before most other states even start,” he said.
A constant reminder throughout the briefing was that people need two doses of both the Pfizer vaccine, in circulation now, and the Moderna soon to come out. The two Pfizer doses are given 21 days apart and Bureau for Public Health Commissioner Ayne Amjad said a computer system tracks who’s been vaccinated so their second dose can be scheduled on time.
Justice and COVID-19 Czar Clay Marsh expanded on the vaccination program timeline. Phase 1-A, for certain health care workers, long-term care staff and residents and pharmacy staff, will unfold now through February. Marsh said pharmacies are critical because they are in the network of distributing the vaccine.
Phase 1-B includes community infrastructure, emergency responders, dentists and public health officials. Phase 1-C includes other health care workers age 50 and up, and 1-D covers utilities and transportation, education and government.
Justice said he hopes Phase 2 will launch in March. This is aimed at the general public. Phase 2-A will target people by age, 60 and up, and people with certain pre-existing conditions. Phase 2-B returns to 1-C and 1-D, vaccinating people under 50. Finally, Phase 2-C takes in the rest of the population.
More details of Phase 2 will be released as the time approaches, Marsh said.
Justice’s team repeatedly emphasized that the vaccine is safe with minimal side effects. They expereiinced some arm pain for a day or two (other side effects can include fatigue, headache and low-grade fever).
Marsh said arm pain signals that your immune system is getting activated to produce the specific response to block infection by the virus and it’s not something to be alarmed about.
He said the few people who shouldn’t take the vaccine are those who are actively infected and in isolation or have a fever, or have had an allergic reaction to a component of the vaccine.
The Dominion Post asked Marsh to elaborate on that. He said the Pfizer vaccine contains Polyethelyne glycol – PEG – which has various medical uses and may have caused a reaction in some of the human trial subjects.
Also, he said, anyone who carries an epinephrine auto-injector should consult with their provider before getting vaccinated to consider possible allergic reactions.
He didn’t answer the Post’s question about whether a person can obtain a copy of the ingredients to inspect before receiving the vaccine.
However, a full, six-page FDA fact sheet on the vaccine’s ingredients, who and who shouldn’t take the vaccine and other precautions can be found at fda.gov/media/144414/download.
The Moderna vaccine, he said, doesn’t contain PEG.
Justice cautioned that people age 65 and up, while they await the vaccine, should pay attention to any cold- or flu- or COVID-like symptoms they develop and see their provided and get tested right away. If caught in time, treatment may be possible.
If they ignore the symptoms, he said, “All they’re doing is signing their death certificate because a pile of those will die.”
Justice referred to antibody treatment, such as that received by President Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani, which news reports say are expensive and scare at the moment and being distributed in some states by lottery.
Tweet David Beard@dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
