More vaccines on the way to Virginia, vaccine efforts continue to make strides in commonwealth

RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY/WRIC) — Virginia state officials confirm more vaccines are on the way to the commonwealth.

They said money from the historic American Rescue Plan will help put more shots into arms.

Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Newport News) and Dr. Danny Avula, the state’s vaccine coordinator, answered constituent questions relating to the recently passed legislation.

Avula said Virginia is taking a big step forward by Tuesday of next week.

“We expect an infusion of 100,000 or more doses of Johnson & Johnson to add to our totals,” he said.

Avula also spoke with WAVY’s sister station WRIC. He told WRIC that Virginia expects 500,000 vaccine doses this week, most of which will be first and second doses of Moderna and Pfizer. Around 127,000 of Virginia’s available doses are being distributed through a federal and retail pharmacy partnership.

Avula said 24% of the state’s population has at least one vaccine dose. Virginia has met its goal of administering 50,000 vaccine doses a day, even reaching as many as 70,000 doses in recent days.

“As more and more supply comes in, that’s going to become our norm,” he said.

Avula also said everybody in Phase 1b who wants to get vaccinated should be able to get their dose by the second week of April, before moving into Phase 1c.

He also shared the commonwealth is on track to meet and possibly even exceed President Joe Biden’s target date of opening up vaccine eligibility to all adults 18 and up by May 1.

“I think we’ll be a week or two ahead of that in Virginia,” Avula said.

Even if enough vaccines are procured by May 1, Avula said it will take the entire month to administer those shots to those who want them.

To reach herd immunity, the state’s goal is getting 75% of the state population vaccinated.

That’s about five million people.

However, Avula estimates only 65% of adult residents in Virginia want the vaccine.

“We’re going to have to work hard for that last 10%, to figure out how do we decrease barriers,” he said. “We’ll rely a lot on faith leaders, pastors who have a lot of influence over their congregation.”

Avula also mentioned there’s a sense of urgency to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible in order to provide protection against the UK variant. He said the CDC predicts that strain could soon be the dominant one in the United States.

Avula also told WAVY sister station WRIC that he suspects Virginia could have a fourth vaccine available, if AstraZeneca is granted emergency use authorization from the FDA. Avula said the initial efficacy data for AstraZeneca vaccines — around 79% effective at curbing symptomatic illness — are encouraging and shots could be available in the U.S. as early as late April or early May.

With lots of talk surrounding vaccines and herd immunity, many are wondering when life will return to normal. Avula tells 8News that the CDC guidance notice fully vaccinated people can gather with each other is encouraging.

“I think, both, more data that supports the fact that you can’t really be a carrier or transmit disease, hopefully that’s what the data will continue to show, paired with decreasing case rates, I think that’s what we need to give us the confidence to move forward with opening up more,” he said.

Things that could stand in the way of a full re-opening are the continued emergence of different variants. Avula said today’s vaccines have proved effective against the U.K. variant, while other variants such as the South African variant have not fully emerged yet.

Virginians, vaccinated or not, are still required to wear masks to protect others as well as themselves. Some have even started wearing two masks, which Avula says creates a better fit and provides a thicker barrier against respiratory droplets.

But, the vaccine czar said that hopefully in the “not so distant future” Virginians will be able to return to life without masks.

One thing that might secure a return to normal is another shot of vaccines for everyone.

“It may take another round of booster vaccination in the fall or winter before we can totally do away with the mask wearing and social distancing,” Avula said.

Moderna is already working on producing booster shots and other companies are working to factor in protection against the COVID-19 variants from South Africa, the U.K. and Brazil.

Avula predicts that it’s possible COVID-19 vaccines could become an annual thing just like flu shots. He says, “we have a new formulation of the flu vaccine every year based on those circulating strains, I think it’s very likely that we will have an annual of the situation of the COVID vaccine where we’ve got a new formulation based on the dominant circulating strains each year.”

But for now, the state has to continue working on reaching everyone for their first round of shots. Avula expressed concern that accessing some state residents such as undocumented individuals may prove difficult.