MORGANTOWN — Gov. Jim Justice expressed frustration over federal bureaucratic delays in getting out vaccines boosters as West Virginia’s active cases passed 10,000 and breakthrough cases surge.
“We need to move, and we can’t get past the legalities of Washington to move right this second,” he said. The federal government has set Sept. 20 as the date for boosters for all those six to eight months out from their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
In the past eight weeks, Justice said, the state has seen a 26% increase in positive cases for those fully vaccinated, a 21% increase in breakthrough cases requiring hospitalization for the fully vaccinated, and a 25% increase in deaths among the fully vaccinated.
Justice said he had been prepared to announce the launch of the booster program for those age 60 and older but learned just before Monday’s briefing of some issues, including federal arrangements with pharmacies.
He’d like to offer boosters for those 60 and older who are not just six or eight months out from their second shots, but even four months.
“We’ve still got to pull back the reins just a little bit and make sure we have the proper approvals before we can go.”
More COVID numbers: 10,543 active cases; 2,486 new positive cases since Friday; 447 hospitalized with 143 in ICUs; 23 red counties, none green.
COVID-19 Czar Clay Marsh again cited what’s going on in Israel, which had been doing exceptionally well but now has a huge surge. Israel learned that for older people who were six months out from their second shot, the vaccine had lost potency. So Israel began a booster campaign and has so far given 1 million third shots of Pfizer, its contracted provider.
Israel has seen, he said, that the booster protects against reinfection and against getting sick if reinfection occurs. He added later that a booster provides five-to-six times the protection available to someone vaccinated at the same time who’s had no booster.
The Dominion Post passed along a reader question about local control of mask mandates. The reader had cited an example of county school board mask orders not applying to private schools and wanted to know who has final say regarding local mask mandates — whether that might be a county commission or health department.
Justice admitted he didn’t know. A commission, supported by a health board, might be able to do that. But he said he would look into it and find out.
On the topic of a mask mandate, he said later to another reporter, “We’re one step closer.” We could be on a path back to virtual school and other restrictions. “We’re on a pathway to a lot more people dying.”
Registration for the revival of the Do It For Babydog vaccine incentive lottery began Monday. The first drawing will be Aug. 31 and prize winners will be announced Sept. 2.
People who registered for the first round must register again for this one, he said. You can register through the link at the coronavirus dashboard, https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/Pages/default.aspx, or go directly to https://doitforbabydog.wv.gov.
TWEET David Beard @dbeardtdp EMAIL dbeard@dominionpost.com
