Unknown number? Virginia officials say you should answer. It could be your vaccine

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY/WRIC) -- As Virginia works out kinks in the vaccine registration and appointment-making systems, the state's vaccine coordinator hopes we could reach herd immunity by the end of June.

Virginia continues chipping away at vaccinating Virginia with planned deliveries of 180,000 first doses of Pfizer and Moderna, 130,000 second doses and 52,000 doses being administered through the federal government’s partnership with pharmacy companies. This will be the second week Virginia has seen numbers this high from pharmacy partners.

Dr. Danny Avula, Virginia's vaccine coordinator, encourages residents registered with the state to answer phone calls from unknown numbers as they could be the statewide call center, local health department or a pharmacy location calling about a possible appointment.

"If you're on a pre-registration list, answer a phone number even if you don't know where it's coming from. The ones coming from our call center will come from that 1-800-VAX-IN-VA number, but it may come from local health departments or it may come from pharmacies themselves. So I do think the top-line message ... is make sure you answer your phone this week or in coming weeks if you're on a pre-vaccination list."

People will be get appointments one of three ways:

1. They will be scheduled by the pharmacy themselves. Pharmacies will go down list and schedule appointments by either email or phone
2. They will be scheduled by the local health department, which will go down the list and use the pharmacy scheduler tool to make appointments that way. 
3. They will be called by the 877-VAX-IN-VA outbound call.

Avula estimates about 5 million adults need to be vaccinated statewide in order to achieve herd immunity. As of Friday, 1,193,349 people have received their first vaccine dose in Virginia.

Available doses could see another jump if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine receives an Emergency Use Authorization. Virginia is scheduled to receive 69,000 doses upon authorization.

Moving pharmacies to using the state's registration list

As for distribution of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, there are a number of ways to receive a dose. More pharmacies kicked off vaccine distribution in Virginia last week using their own independent scheduling systems.

However, starting this upcoming week, most of Virginia’s pharmacy partners will be scheduling appointments using the statewide registration list.

CVS and those falling under the ownership of Albertsons (Safeway) will continue using their own system to register Virginians over the age of 65.

Now that the statewide vaccine registration list is squared away, it will be the default sign-up method, Avula said.

"We did not want people to be sitting on vaccine or hold off on vaccinating communities while they had this vaccine. So we said 'Go ahead and use whatever process you all want for the first few days. We'd like you to keep it to 65 and up but it's better it go to somebody than nobody."

People on the list will be sorted by district and by age, focusing on age 65-plus population.

Over 100 physical pharmacy locations are now administering vaccines in Virginia. While most are offering theirs in-store like CVS and Walgreens — Walmart is holding off-site community clinics.

Clinics were held in Chesterfield, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Roanoke this week. Next week, Walmart will be offering vaccines in the Crater Health District, Prince William County, Norfolk and a fourth location.

Walmart vaccine clinics aren't open to the public, and are by appointment only. Walk-ins will be turned away, officials said. Walmart’s vaccination clinics will be moving around each week to help reach communities with lower vaccination rates.

In Hampton Roads, Walmart held clinics Friday in Norfolk at the STEM Academy and in Virginia Beach at the Central Library.

Per Avula, nearly 1,200 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were given to Walmart for each location. Each location will give out 400 doses a day for three days -- Thursday through Saturday. Walmart has been maxing out appointments every day this week.

Although the state is working to get the pharmacies to start making appointments through the state's preregistration list, for now, Walmart is asking people to schedule appointments by visiting their website.

Sometime this weekend, all Virginians who have called, filled out an online form or registered with their local health department should be listed in Virginia’s pre-registration system. If not, fill out the form a second time or contact the Vaccinate Virginia number 1-877-829-4682.

from WAVY.com https://ift.tt/3sCSm0p