CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Governor Jim Justice announced on Monday that he is opening the COVID-19 vaccination for everyone over the age of 16 in Mountain State.
“Starting now,” Justice said at the beginning of his press conference on Monday about the virus.
Justice said the registration of these new age groups could start at vaccinate.wv.gov.
“Now it’s our turn. We’re going to West Virginia, ”said Justice.
Those over 65 will continue to be a priority. Justice said new information shows that 70% of people over that age have been vaccinated. The court said those figures include the state’s vaccination numbers, those from the Veterans’ Administration and those from the federal pharmacy program.
“We had 221,739 residents aged 65 and over who chose to be vaccinated,” said Justice. “Of these, 150,000 have been fully vaccinated.”
Justice said 70% is an impressive figure.
“I have no idea where the other states are, but I can’t imagine that they are 70% of their 65s or older,” he said. “We need that number to go over 80%, to go over 85% and the only way to get there is for you to stop listening to this garbage that people are feeding you with this vaccine.”
The state has already fully vaccinated about 268,000 residents of all ages, according to the report by the Department of Health and Human Resources on Monday.
Justice said the general number is good, but not enough.
“As long as we continue to lead the country with our vaccine distribution, we don’t want to take our foot off the accelerator,” he said. “I encourage all West Virginia residents to take this opportunity and get vaccinated.”
Lists being deleted
DHHR State Secretary Bill Crouch said the state continues to contact older residents who are on the EverBridge vaccination list for more than three weeks.
“We contacted the 80 or older on the list last week. This week, we are getting in touch with people aged 70 and over and 65 and over. We are going to take these people to a clinic as soon as possible, ”said Crouch.
As of last Wednesday, there were more than 7,000 residents of the state aged 80 and over who signed up for a vaccine in the EverBridge system, but have not yet received it; more than 23,000 residents between 70-79 and approximately 18,000 residents between 65-69 years of age.
Crouch made a promise on Monday.
“That list is going to be completely erased,” said Crouch.
He also said the state would be moving away from the EverBridge system.
“The governor has already instructed us to look for a better way to help people get their vaccines,” said Crouch.
Crouch said again on Monday that EverBridge has not been perfect, but it has fulfilled its original goal of bringing relief to county health departments by reducing the volume of calls.
“We now have more than 390,000 individuals registered in the system who would call local staff,” said Crouch last week.
Crouch asks residents who have not heard of EverBridge to call the state hotline at 1-833-734-0965.
Justice said there are more and more places to get a vaccine. He asked state residents to buy one wherever and whenever they can, no matter if they are on the list or not.
“Let’s go to West Virginia and get everyone vaccinated in this state. That should be our goal, ”said Justice.