Recognizing that “many residents are frustrated,” Arlington officials on Friday asked for patience with the distribution of the vaccine in the county, while asking the state for more doses.
The county has faced scrutiny for what some see as a slow launch of the COVID-19 vaccine, despite receiving the first vaccine shipment before Christmas.
Earlier this week, vaccinations in Arlington were happening at just over 200 a day. At that rate, it would take more than two years just to give a single dose of the two-dose vaccine to each adult resident in the county.
In the past two days, the pace has accelerated, with more than 400 doses administered per day. As of Friday morning, a total of 4,573 doses have been administered and 550 people in Arlington have been fully vaccinated.
Still, ARLnow has received a flurry of emails in the past few days from people saying that Arlington should be moving faster, due to more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths per day across the country and the increasing prevalence of a more prevalent virus strain. contagious.
“The inability to get to a more reasonable speed is terrible,” said one person. “People are dying.”
In a press release today, the county said it was “acting quickly to increase access for eligible Arlingtonians”.
“This weekend, the Arlington County Public Health Division will hold two clinics to vaccinate 1,800 individuals in the Childcare / Teachers / Pre-K-12 staff identified in Phase 1b,” noted the press release.
But even that effort is controversial.
As ARLnow first reported on Thursday, the county-led registration process for Arlington Public Schools employees to register for vaccines was unsuccessful, with many not receiving the e-mails and links needed to register. Some of those who managed to register and receive a confirmation email the first time were later informed that it was not really a confirmation of an appointment.
“You received confirmation from WordPress due to a bug in the technology that allowed more appointments to be scheduled than is available,” school officials said this afternoon in an email from the Arlington public health division.
Some of those who received initial confirmation were unable to secure a spot when the registration was reopened last night, we were told.
“There were limited places available,” explained APS spokesman Frank Bellavia. “Public Health sent an email last night to those employees who did not receive an appointment to schedule one of the remaining vacancies available. Those remaining vacancies have been filled until this morning. “
Ryan Hudson, a public health spokesman in Arlington, said the county is now waiting for more vaccine supplies and cannot say with certainty when the rest of PHC staff will be vaccinated.
“We cannot give a specific date when all teachers and PHC staff will be vaccinated, as the ability to schedule appointments will depend on the increased distribution of the Virginia vaccine,” he said.
“The expansion of people eligible for Phase 1b unfortunately does not increase the limited supply of doses of Arlington vaccine,” added Hudson. “The county started establishing its distribution and infrastructure plan in 2020. Arlington is prepared to streamline consultations as soon as the county receives additional doses from Virginia.”
County health director Dr. Reuben Varghese told the Arlington County Council earlier this week that the county was still working to establish an infrastructure for mass vaccinations. Asked by ARLnow why this process did not start earlier, county council chairman Matt de Ferranti said a lot of work had been done before the first doses of the vaccine arrived.
“The freezers were ordered, [a] The website was developed and we already had a pre-existing relationship with the Virginia Hospital Center, ”he said today. “Many other infrastructure steps have been taken, but the demand [for the vaccine] so far exceeds the offer. Other jurisdictions in Northern Virginia and DC are also facing similar challenges. We are working to get the most out of the vaccine as soon as possible. We are asking for as much patience as people can find. “
In this afternoon’s press release, de Ferranti defended the efforts of Varghese and the county manager, Mark Schwartz.
“As the situation continues to change rapidly, our Municipal Manager and Director of Public Health are working at full speed to secure vaccines and put them into practice,” he said. “The Council assured them that we will provide all the necessary resources to do this.”
Other local jurisdictions have also said that the COVID-19 vaccine is in short supply.
“The supply of vaccines in the United States is still very limited and is expected to gradually increase in the coming months. Fairfax Health asks for your patience during this process, ”City of Falls Church, which uses services from the Fairfax County health department, tweeted today.
Virginia ranks last among US states in terms of utilizing the vaccine stock it has, according to Bloomberg.
President-elect Joe Biden, for his part, said today that the new government plans to use FEMA and the National Guard to establish vaccination clinics across the country, while working to bring more vaccines to local pharmacies.
The full county press release is below.
Arlington County applauds Governor Ralph Northam’s decision to make the COVID-19 vaccine available to more Virginians, and county health and government officials are moving quickly to increase access for eligible Arlingtonians.
On Thursday, January 14, Northam announced that all Virgos aged 65 and over and those aged 16 to 64 with underlying medical conditions will be transferred to Phase 1b under the community’s vaccination plan.
“We are grateful that the state is making the COVID-19 vaccine more accessible to Virginians who need and want it,” said Dr. Aaron Miller, Director of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management. “At the moment, each available dose we have has a corresponding arm to be applied. And we continue to support the Commonwealth’s efforts to launch more vaccines. “
“The top priority for the county government is to ensure the rapid, efficient and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines,” said Matt de Ferranti, chairman of the Arlington county council. “We know that many residents are frustrated and we understand and share their concerns. Since Monday, there have been rapid changes in eligibility within the priority groups, including the addition of those 65 to 74 years old and 16 to 64 years old with medical conditions underlying Phase 1b. We are also receiving far fewer vaccines than the demand of Arlingtonians. We ask that you be as patient as possible, as we urgently work on this critical challenge. “
This weekend, the Arlington County Public Health Division will hold two clinics to vaccinate 1,800 individuals in the pre-12th grade Childcare / Teachers / Staff priority group, identified in Phase 1b, including the Arlington Public Schools (APS). People in this group who are unable to schedule an appointment for this weekend will have the opportunity to make appointments as more vaccine becomes available.
The Virginia Hospital Center (HCV), which has already partnered with the county to operate a vaccination clinic for residents over 75, is working to increase scheduling opportunities when more vaccine supplies are available.
As Arlington County Public Health begins to receive guidance from the Virginia Department of Health on additional people eligible in Phase 1b, it continues to work to vaccinate the many people who have pre-registered in the past few days.
The expansion of people eligible for Phase 1b does not increase the limited supply of doses of Arlington vaccine. The ability to schedule appointments will depend on the increased distribution of the Virginia vaccine. The national distribution of any COVID-19 vaccine is managed by the CDC and the US Department of Defense. Arlington County is prepared to speed up and expedite consultations once the county receives additional doses from Virginia.
In the meantime, people aged 65-74 and people aged 16-64 with a high-risk or disabled medical condition that increases the risk of serious COVID-19 disease can pre-register and will be notified when appointments are available , as vaccine distribution increases
Arlington employers of essential frontline workers (as identified in Phase 1b) who desire a COVID-19 vaccine must still pre-register with the Arlington County Public Health Division.
“As the situation continues to change rapidly, our Municipal Manager and Director of Public Health are working at full speed to secure vaccines and put them on the guns,” said de Ferranti. “The Council assured them that we will provide all the necessary resources to do this.”
Matt Blitz contributed to this report.