Rolling up his sleeves to receive his first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the press secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Terrence Hayes, said he was excited to receive an injection that would lessen the likelihood that he would take the coronavirus to his family .
“My wife is a very asthmatic person, so I definitely need to take every precaution to make sure she stays healthy,” said Hayes shortly after receiving the vaccine at VA headquarters in Washington, DC
Hayes, a retired Army chief sergeant, received one out of a million doses that the VA had distributed on Tuesday. According to the department, 582,000 first doses and 44,000 second doses of Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were delivered to veterans, while more than 401,000 doses were given to VA officials.
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Another 1,200 were administered to employees of other federal agencies that work with the VA, according to officials.
Across the United States, about 32 million vaccines were administered by February 1, according to compilations by the New York Times. VA’s milestone marks him ahead of states like North Carolina, New Jersey and Washington; administered more doses of vaccine than the states of Oregon and Louisiana combined. Only eight US states have administered more doses of vaccine to date. On Tuesday, the state of Illinois, which has a population of 12.67 million according to the last census, also administered its millionth dose of the vaccine.
The Department of Defense has administered some 500,000 vaccines to date, according to the Times.
Dr. Richard Stone, undersecretary of health for the Veterans Health Administration, was among a dozen doctors at VA headquarters in Washington, DC, administering the vaccine to essential workers in the building this week.
Stone, a retired Army doctor, said he is pleased with the progress of system-wide delivery across the country, adding that the department manages its weekly distribution of more than 108,000 doses “in three to four days”.
The VA has the capacity, he added, to administer 600,000 doses per week.
“We built a system ready to accommodate much larger quantities as manufacturers grow,” he said.
According to Stone, the vaccine acceptance rate among VA employees is between 80% and 83% – much higher than the 60% rate reported in December among the general population of the United States, according to a survey by Pew Research Center.
One of the reasons why VA officials are eager to receive the vaccine, he said, is that the department has been “hit very hard”.
“We are providing health care and caring for some very sick patients. The willingness to get the vaccine has been overwhelming, ”said Stone.
Since the outbreak began, more than 209,000 patients with VA have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Approximately 9,200 died, including 1,800 in January alone – the deadliest month so far for patients with AV, surpassing the December record of approximately 1,700 people.
VA officials also succumbed to the virus: on Tuesday, 121 died.
The VA began delivering vaccines late last year, starting December 14 with Margaret Klessens, 96, a World War II veteran who lives in a community community center at Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts.
VA is delivering vaccines to more than 215 locations across the country, with plans to expand to additional locations as vaccine supply increases.
But officials said that until manufacturers increase delivery – and new vaccines are available, probably in March – “many facilities may be temporarily without vaccines for short periods of time.”
In addition to announcing the millionth milestone of the vaccine, VA officials began posting data on the number of veterans who received the COVID-19 vaccine per facility – data that will be updated daily, according to VA interim secretary Dat Tran.
At the end of January, VA was in “Phase 1B” to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to veterans, including those who are 75 years of age or older, serve as essential workers, have an underlying health condition that requires chemotherapy or dialysis, or they are organ transplant recipients.
Stone said the vaccine proved to be safe for the vulnerable VA patient population: the department recorded adverse reactions in less than 30 patients who received the vaccine – mainly fainting or increased heart rate and zero hospitalizations.
The VA has contacted veterans who are eligible for vaccinations to schedule appointments; those wishing to obtain additional information can access the VA COVID-19 vaccines page, visit the website of their local facilities or contact their doctor.
Hayes received the vaccine because he is considered an essential worker who often interacts with the public. He said he hopes his decision to get the vaccine will influence others – including members of his own family – to get it.
“My family in the South is very hesitant to get the vaccine for several different reasons that are legitimate, so I wanted to … help them understand that it is better to get the vaccine – not just to protect themselves, but to protect their family and anyone they contact, “he said.
– Patricia Kime can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @patriciakime.
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Originally published