Colin Brody of the Fairfax Health Department, in a briefing to the virtual meeting of the Falls Church City Council Monday, reported that shipments of Covid-19 vaccines to the county have fallen off dramatically from 40,000 weekly to 13,000 new doses per week.
No explanation for the drop off was given.
He said that over 120,000 have registered to receive the vaccines who have not yet been served, though all who have received a first dose will be the second on schedule.
“It is important that we manage expectations,” he told the Council, and keep stressing the wearing of masks and social distancing.
He said the data ranking Virginia near the bottom of U.S. states in terms of effectiveness of delivery of vaccines is marred by poor reporting in the state, and that when the problem is corrected it will show that Virginia is among the top 10 states in the U.S. in this effort.
In a new development Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health announced in a blast email to over 150,000 registered to receive doses that it expects to receive 105,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine each week starting this week and will be initiating a per capita distribution to jurisdictions.
Described as a “new process,” the Health Department will be responsible for distributing vaccine to providers in different health districts. But this represents an overall decrease in Virginia’s vaccine allocation, a result of limited supplies nationally, and is going to significantly limit the pace at which the more than 156,000 residents in Phase 1a and 1b priority groups who have registered through the Health Department’s online application system and are currently in the queue to receive an appointment.
“Unfortunately, vaccine supply remains very limited so we ask for your patience as it may take months for some people to get an appointment time,” the VDH notice said.
