COVID-19 UPDATE: Gov Justice: West Virginia leading the nation in vaccination rate
12/20/2020
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CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced today that West Virginia is leading the nation in the rate of COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration.As of Sunday afternoon, West Virginia had administered 15,046 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, out of 16,575 doses received, which is a 90.78% administration rate.According to Bloomberg.com’s COVID Vaccine Tracker, this is the highest administration rate of any state in the nation. (Note: the number of vaccines administered in West Virginia are updated as of 1 p.m. from the West Virginia National Guard, and are higher than reported by Bloomberg.com)“While other states all around the nation are sitting around, trying to come up with a plan, we’re not waiting in West Virginia. We’re getting it done,” Gov. Justice said. “With the great help of our amazing National Guard, health experts, DHHR, and all our local partners, we’re on top of this. We’re administering as many vaccines as quickly as possible.“With the Moderna vaccine also receiving FDA authorization Friday, we’re ready to roll on our end to continue getting vaccines out as efficiently as possible,” Gov. Justice continued. “Now it’s up to our West Virginians to answer the call and take these safe and effective vaccines as soon as their time comes, so we can stop this terrible virus once and for all.”Gov. Justice also announced Friday that West Virginia is leading the nation in distributing COVID-19 vaccines to nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the state.“West Virginia is truly shining because we are putting a real focus on getting our nursing homes and assisted living facilities vaccinated first,” Gov. Justice said. “We were the first state in the country to require long-term care facilities to test 100 percent of their residents and staff, and I badly want to be the first state in the country to get all of these facilities vaccinated too. We plan to have this done in under a month. We literally may be finishing our vaccination to long-term care facilities before some states even start.”
Contact Information
Jordan Damron, jordan.l.damron@wv.gov