How Many Virginians Have Been Vaccinated?

Just shy of 200,000 Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines will enter Virginia next week.

RICHMOND – There’s one question all Virginians want answered. How many people have been vaccinated in the state and how many are left?

As of Friday afternoon, the answer to the first question is 2.5 million. That leaves just over 6 million Virginians in need of the vaccine.

State Vaccine Coordinator Dr. Danny Avula’s acknowledged the numbers during his weekly press conference Friday. Currently Virginia ranks fourth in the country, as far as doses administered.

A total of 19.5% of the state’s population received at least one dose of either the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine as of Friday. To be clear, Pfizer and Moderna’s versions require two shots, while Johnson & Johnson’s needs just one to be effective.

Virginia also ranks 12th in the country for the number of fully vaccinated individuals.

“So that efficiency rating, our ability to get vaccine out as soon as we get it is really, really impressive,” Avula said. “I just can’t thank all of our health departments, health systems and providers and pharmacies enough for the pace at which they’ve been setting up large scale and small scale clinics across the state.”

The doctor noted that per day, the state averages nearly 55,000 inoculations.

More Doses Coming for Virginians

For the coming week, Avula expected 195,000 first doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines coming to the state. For second doses, he anticipated 167,000 doses of Moderna and Pfizer coming to the state.

“As anticipated, we didn’t get any Johnson & Johnson this week. We just found out yesterday that next week [we’ll get] 9,600 doses. We expect that that will be a similar number the following week,” Avula said. “And then again the week of March 29, really expecting to see the Johnson & Johnson allocation shoot up potentially north of 100,000 new doses.”

Avula also noted an overwhelmingly positive response to the first week of the Johnson & Johnson rollout in Virginia.

“A lot of the comments we’ve received [went like], ‘I’d rather have one dose than two,’” Avula said. “And so to be totally protected by just that first dose has been a real attraction for many, many residents.”

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Highest Supply Months

The state vaccine coordinator expected April and May to be the highest supply totals and outputs for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The uptick in supply could cause transitions from Phase 1B to Phase 1C as early as next month.

“Given those projections, I think it’s very realistic that we will get through our 1B [Phase] by mid-April. In some parts of the state, that’s going to be sooner,” Avula said. “And so we really are going to allow different parts of the state – much like we did the 1A to 1B transition – different parts of the state will move to 1C and to [Phase] 2 at their own pace, depending on, you know, the unique demographics of each of their communities. We certainly don’t want to slow any vaccination down.”

The flexibility, Avula noted, could help vaccine get to every part of the state more quickly. He expected Phase 1C vaccines to move along quickly, due to the limited number of anticipated clients in that subsection. The doctor also expressed that the 1C line could move more rapidly because of portions of the state offering it within the next several weeks.

He further noted that the community vaccine clinics, made possibly with help from FEMA, will increase the state’s vaccine distribution. Danville, Petersburg and Portsmouth became the first three areas to host the mass vaccination clinics.

“They come right in time for the expected surge of April and May…” Avula said.

Vaccination events at the FEMA-connected locations are by appointment only, based on the state’s preregistration list.

All Virginians Eligible By May 1

“[President Joe Biden said] he would like every American to be eligible for vaccination by May 1,” Avula said. “And as we look at the supply and the pace and the demand here in Virginia, we really think that we will easily hit that May 1 marker and potentially outpace it by a couple of weeks.”

He further remarked that everyone who wanted a vaccine should have the opportunity to receive a first dose appointment by the end of May.

As the doses continue rolling into the state and out to individuals, Avula promised continued transparency.

“While they may not be able to go to an event and pick and choose a vaccine at that specific event, they will always know what type of vaccine is being given at an event,” Avula said.

Amie Knowles reports for Dogwood. You can reach her at [email protected]