‘When your time comes, do get the shot’
By Randy Rieland and Rachel Needham
For Rappahannock News and Foothills Forum
The circle of Rappahannock residents eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations is beginning to widen, with the announcement on Tuesday that Rappahannock County Public School teachers and staff will start receiving their vaccines this week.
The Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District (RRHD), which serves the populations of Rappahannock, Fauquier, Culpeper, Orange and Madison counties, will soon begin delivering doses to people in Group B.
According to the state’s vaccine distribution plan, this includes people ages 75 and older and “frontline essential workers” such as teachers, child care providers, corrections staffers, grocery employees, migrant farmworkers, veterinarians, mail carriers and “officials needed to maintain continuity of government.”
On Jan. 6, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam set an initial goal of vaccinating 25,000 Virginians per day and announced that as the commonwealth receives more doses, the Virginia National Guard will “provide logistical support and help local health departments [with] administering vaccines.”
But so far the vaccine rollout has been slow in the state, with the Virginia Department of Health reporting a seven-day moving average of only 11,282 vaccines per day on Wednesday.
Locally, the VDH reports that 103 Rappahannock County residents have received their first dose of vaccine as of Jan. 13, about triple the number from the previous week.
Larry Grove, vice chair of the Rappahannock County Public School Board and president of the Sperryville Volunteer Fire Department, was among the first county residents to receive a dose of the Moderna vaccine in early January.
Grove told the News earlier this week that he had experienced no side effects or even soreness at the injection site. “It was smooth, easy — I didn’t even know I got a shot,” he said.
Grove explained that when he showed up at the Reva Volunteer Fire Department in Culpeper for his scheduled vaccination time slot, he showed the staff his driver’s license and a special code that had been sent to him on his phone when he made the appointment.
“Then you go in,” he said. “You get a piece of paper and they assign you to a seat. The nurse asks some more questions and then they give you the shot.”
He explained that after the shot was administered, staff advised him to wait in a socially-distanced room for 15 minutes to be monitored. Though adverse reactions to the vaccine are rare, Grove said, health workers are “being cautious.”
“At the end of 10 minutes … the lady will ask you some more questions, how do you feel, and then they send you out the door.” Grove called the process “extremely well organized, adding, “I was very impressed.”
He expects to get his second and final dose on Feb. 2.
About 200,402 vaccinations have been administered to first responders like Grove at vaccination centers across the commonwealth, though the VDH’s reported number may lag behind the actual number as doses administered can take up to 72 hours to be entered into the Virginia Immunization Information System.
All told, just over 2% of the state’s population has received at least one dose since mid-December, but only 19,086 — .002% of the 8.5 million Virginians — are fully immunized. The percentage of partially inoculated residents in the RRHD is slightly lower than the state average at roughly 1.6%. Of the more than 180,000 residents of the RRHD, 345 are fully vaccinated.
As the number of those who qualify for the vaccine expands, the RRHD plans to add more vaccination locations and hopes to make appointments available on Saturdays. But those details are still being worked out, according to Dr. Wade Kartchner, RRHD’s health director.
The VDH is releasing a new eligibility questionnaire on its website that will help Virginians determine when they will qualify to receive the vaccine based on their locality, occupation, age, underlying medical conditions and other criteria. At the end of the questionnaire, respondents are able to provide their contact information so they can be reached with follow-up information and alerts.
Dr. Kartchner said that the VDH is also working on setting up a hotline for those who need assistance, and a staff member will walk through the questionnaire over the phone.
He said no proof of age will be required at vaccination sites, but those in essential worker groups (A, B and C) will need to bring an employment badge or pay stub, or wear a work uniform to their vaccination appointment to confirm their priority status.
While maintaining an adequate supply of vaccine doses to meet demand has been difficult in some locations, Dr. Kartchner said that so far the RRHD has been able to secure the number of doses it has requested from the state.
But as the number of people eligible to receive the vaccine — and therefore demand — expands, health departments statewide may face staffing challenges. Though additional federal coronavirus relief dollars may help address that issue in Virginia, Dr. Kartchner said he will wait for the VDH to announce its priorities and see how much flexibility local health districts will have to allocate resources.
Another challenge for the RRHD has been getting a handle on how many vaccine-eligible people have chosen not to get a shot. April Achter, the RRHD’s population health coordinator, said there didn’t seem to be a lot of pushback from the health professionals in the “1A” vaccination category. But she acknowledged that it’s difficult to track how many people in a particular group don’t want to be vaccinated.
That’s why it’s critical, she said, to continue to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine, such as the bogus suggestion that it can cause COVID-19 disease or alter a person’s DNA.
Achter also stressed the importance of people following up with a second vaccination three to four weeks after the first shot. The second dose extends a person’s immunity much longer than a single vaccination alone,
Public health officials also continue to encourage everyone — even those who have been vaccinated — to wear face coverings, practice social distancing and wash their hands frequently. Because while the vaccine is 99% effective against the disease COVID-19, scientists still aren’t sure if it prevents a person from carrying and transmitting the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the illness.
It’s strongly recommended that even those who have already contracted the virus get vaccinated.
For more information and to find out when you might be eligible to receive the vaccine, visit the Virginia Department of Health website at vdh.virginia.gov. The VDH eligibility questionnaire can be found online at vdh.jebbit.com/amkwk6m1.
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