Virginia’s plan to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine

Virginia – It’s too early to tell when Virginia will get its first COVID-19 vaccines and how many it will receive.

But Division of Immunization Director Christy Gray said the Virginia Department of Health is ready to move.

“While these decisions are being made, the vaccine is getting manufactured and the amount of doses is growing,” said Gray, “It is exciting that we are nearing this step.”

Gray said VDH, the federal government and their private partners will be ready to distribute doses to doctors’ offices, pharmacies, and hospitals through a process that has already been used for seasonal vaccines and emergency ones, such as the H1N1 vaccine.

The plan has also been practiced in the event of a pandemic like this.

We have not built a new process here. We are using proven existing infrastructure,” said Gray. “There are several pieces that obviously could go wrong, but we are trying to plan for all sorts of contingency plans.

Pfizer’s vaccine requires coolers and dry ice to keep doses extremely cold. The pharmaceutical company is seeking emergency use authorization as early as December 10th.

Moderna said its’ vaccine is not far behind that.

Both companies claim their vaccines are around 95% effective.

If approved, federal officials said first responders, the elderly, and people with certain medical conditions could start getting the vaccine before the end of the year.

“We are going to have another tool that we can help Virginians to take in order to bring an end to this pandemic,” said Gray.