MORGANTOWN – COVID-19 Czar Clay Marsh and Joint Interagency Task Force Director Gen. James Hoyer on Friday again urged West Virginians to get their vaccine boosters.
Marsh said that as the weather gets colder and people are staying more inside – where the virus spreads more easily – areas of the country are seeing upticks in cases and hospitalizations. So it’s time to get either fully vaccinated or to get a booster.
Of the three vaccines in use in the U.S., he said, the Johnson & Johnson has the most drop-off in effectiveness after six months. People who are vaccinated should get the J&J booster after two months; those with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines should get a booster after six months.
Hoyer also said that the transmission rate in West Virginia has inched back up. And while the number of those age 50 and up who are vaccinated is high, “We must really attack rapidly getting booster doses in those folks because of what we know and what the data shows us as to their vulnerability.”
COVID cases peaked in September, he said, but deaths continue. “We are not out of the woods yet.”
Hoyer and Public Health Commissioner Ayne Amjad addressed a report in a Mercer County newspaper that vaccine doses weren’t coming to the county health department.
The report was in error, they said.
The county health department was asked to stop giving vaccines, he said, but other outlets are still administering them, Hoyer said. “I just want to assure people in the southern part of the state, particularly Mercer County, we are working and continue to work to make sure your children have access to vaccinations.”
Amjad said the bureau oversees quality assurance, such as correct administration of dosages at health departments. In this case, the Mercer County Health Department was giving full doses of Moderna as boosters instead of the required half dose. This was a temporary hold and happens at other places across the state.
Her team will go to the county next week, she said, to make sure correct doses are given. “If you’re not going to give them correctly, then we have to put a hold on them.”
TWEET David Beard @dbeardtdp EMAIL dbeard@dominionpost.com
