Virginia is starting a state vaccination program COVID-19, which means that local systems will be closed on Friday to integrate its waiting lists.
Virginia is starting a statewide vaccination program COVID-19, which means that local systems will be shut down on Friday night.
The Virginia Department of Health said in a statement that local vaccination registration systems will be shut down at 5 pm Friday, and the new state system will begin on Tuesday, February 16.
Current waiting lists at local health departments will be incorporated into the state system, the health department said.
Virginia vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula said at a news conference on Friday that local systems will be reopened, but will be linked to the state website.
There is one big exception: Fairfax County.
“The Fairfax Health District will not use the new system at this time,” said the Fairfax County Health Department on Friday. They said residents should not sign up on the state’s website, but should continue to use the county system.
“We invested a lot of resources in our registration system and resolved the difficulties to ensure that we continue to prosecute more people than any other health district in the state,” said Jeff McKay, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. “At this point, I’m happy that we can keep our system familiar with residents to avoid confusion.”
“They worked hard to build their own system,” said Avula of Fairfax County; “We absolutely hope that they will join soon.”
McKay echoed that sentiment: “We will continue to have conversations with the state about registration as the vaccination process is implemented.”
“Over the weekend,” said the state health department, “the Commonwealth will eliminate, cleanse and consolidate data from local district health systems.” People “will maintain their current status in the queue,” he added.
The most important changes that a state system will bring, Avula said, include a standard form for all Virgos, so they are answering the same questions about which priority groups they belong to.
The new system will also solve a widespread problem, he added: “There will be a confirmation on the screen when you actually put the information on the form” and “you will also receive weekly reminders” of where you are in the queue. Residents will also be able to check their status at any time.
call center
The centralized system also offers a call center throughout the state, with 750 attendants who speak English and Spanish, as well as third-party access to translators in 100 languages. This, Avula predicted, would help with equity issues for people who do not have easy access to the Internet and who cannot log into a website early in the morning to get an appointment.
Attendants will not only be able to make appointments, but answer general questions about COVID-19, Avula said.
Residents will give their address at registration and consultations will be held in their local health districts, Avula said. Local districts “will still curate their own lists,” he said.
The phone number and web address will be provided next week.
Fairfax County Panel
Also on Friday afternoon, Fairfax County launched its own COVID-19 vaccine panel.
McKay said the county panel “allows you to confirm your registration status and see the progress of Fairfax County’s vaccination efforts in an effort to improve transparency and communication.”
It shows how many doses of vaccine the county received and how many it administered, as well as on what date people who are currently receiving consultations were originally registered. As of Friday, the county was scheduling meetings for people who signed up on January 18.
McKay said the need for such a panel became apparent soon after people started signing up for vaccines and the lack of supplies meant longer-than-expected waits: “We expected to be talking about a few weeks,” but in reality, “We have to make sure that we redefine people’s expectations. “
He said everyone on the county waiting list received a notification on Friday that they were still in line and hoped that the transparency provided by the panel would make the wait less stressful. McKay added that he expects the supply of vaccine doses to continue to increase each week.
Mike Murillo of WTOP contributed to this report.
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