by Jackie Nunnery
KILMARNOCK—Gov. Ralph Northam at a press conference on January 6 explained plans for the rollout of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, saying they are “literally our path forward” to control COVID-19. Northam assured everyone that the vaccines are safe, that he and his family would be taking them, and encouraged “everyone else to take them as well.”
The rollout, which Northam referred to as “the most extensive public vaccination campaign in modern history,” is phased according to risk and priority among 8.5 million Virginians. There are three priority vaccination groups which account for roughly half the state’s population, to be followed by one final general population group. The roughly 500,000 people in group 1A—health care workers, emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, and those living in long-term care facilities—have been receiving vaccinations for the past three weeks.
“The federal government commissioned Walgreens and CVS to vaccinate the long-term health facilities,” said Dr. Richard Williams, director of the Three Rivers Health District. “They’ll move onto assisted-living facilities after that.”
“For most of everyone else, it’s going to be a combination of health districts and the local health departments in cooperation with other health care folks in the community who are capable of and willing… There's more to this story...
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