Vaccine Shortage Jeopardizes Virginia's Vaccination Timeline

VIRGINIA — Virginia will see a major reduction in vaccine supplies in the coming weeks, jeopardizing the state's goal of providing at least one vaccine shot to everyone who wants one by the end of May.

The state is expected to receive about 33-percent fewer vaccine doses due to smaller numbers of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine getting allocated to the state.

Dr. Danny Avula, Virginia's vaccine coordinator, said Friday in his weekly news briefing that next week’s allocation of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be about 14,800 doses for state and local health departments and about 13,100 doses for Virginia pharmacies taking part in a federal partnership.

Those Johnson & Johnson vaccine numbers would be a dramatic decrease from the 124,000 vaccine doses for state and local health departments and 150,000 vaccine doses for pharmacies that the state had been receiving.

“It’s about a tenth of what we were hoping for,” Avula said.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine shortages are occurring nationwide due to manufacturing issues with the vaccine at a plant in Baltimore. Johnson & Johnson has said it expects production to be back to normal levels by the end of April. But Avula noted that uncertainty still surrounds Johnson & Johnson's ability to ramp up vaccine manufacturing to previous levels.

Virginia's allocation of the Pfizer and Moderna will remain steady next week, with about 117,000 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and about 86,000 first doses of the Moderna vaccine. And those numbers are not expected to increase in the near future to make up for the decrease in Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses.

Avula said the fewer doses does not change the state's April 18 deadline for all of Virginia to move into phase 2, when vaccines will be open to anyone age 16 and over who wants one. But the vaccine coordinator said it does mean there will be fewer appointments for people to get vaccines in the coming weeks, including when the state opens vaccinations to everyone 16 and older.

SEE ALSO: How To Get The COVID-19 Vaccine In Virginia

At the news briefing, Avula said the vaccine shortage may delay efforts to vaccinate college students before they return home for the summer or attend large graduation ceremonies.

On Saturday, the Virginia Department of Health reported that 1,736,603 Virginians, or 20.3 percent of the state's population, were fully vaccinated. According to VDH data, 4,615,336 total doses have been administered, with 3,036,315 people, or 35.6 percent of the state's population, receiving at least their first dose.

The seven-day average on Saturday was 77,847 doses administered in Virginia.

Local health departments lead the state with 1,378,577 total doses given, followed by 1,123,877 given at pharmacies. Hospitals have administered a total of 902,393 vaccines. Medical practices are next with 685,362 doses administered followed by community health providers at 525,127.

COVID-19 Data

The VDH reported a 6.1-percent coronavirus positivity rate on Saturday from tests performed on residents over the past seven days. The positive rate is far below the 2021 high of 17.4 percent reported on Jan. 3 by the VDH.

Since the start of the pandemic, the all-time high of the seven-day coronavirus positivity rate was 20.2 percent on April 20, 2020.

On average, 17,809 daily PCR testing encounters were reported statewide on April 6, down from a peak of 35,034 on Jan. 14.

On Saturday, 1,700 additional COVID-19 cases were reported by the VDH, and the seven-day average of daily cases was 1,469. Northern Virginia accounted for 513 new cases on Saturday and has a seven-day average of 439 daily cases.

An additional seven COVID-19 deaths were reported Saturday, bringing the death total to 10,458.

Virginia's COVID-19 hospitalizations stand at 1,087 statewide as of Saturday. The current count includes 249 patients in intensive care units and 133 on ventilators.

Ventilator use among all hospital patients is at 28 percent, and ICU occupancy is at 78 percent, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

Here are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Friday to Saturday:

• Alexandria: 11,253 cases, 541 hospitalizations, 130 deaths; increase of 37 cases and one hospitalization
• Arlington County: 14,631 cases, 814 hospitalizations, 249 deaths; increase of 38 cases and two hospitalizations
• Fairfax County: 73,156 cases, 3,789 hospitalizations, 1,052 deaths; increase of 208 cases, nine hospitalizations and one death
• Fairfax City: 528 cases, 46 hospitalizations, 18 deaths; no changes
• Falls Church: 404 cases, 20 hospitalizations, nine deaths; no changes
• Loudoun County: 26,116 cases, 967 hospitalizations, 273 deaths; increase of 104 cases and two hospitalizations
• Manassas: 4,223 cases, 169 hospitalizations, 45 deaths; increase of three cases
• Manassas Park: 1,177 cases, 68 hospitalizations, 12 deaths; increase of one case
• Prince William County: 43,035 cases, 1,571 hospitalizations, 476 deaths; increase of 122 cases and 17 hospitalizations
• Fredericksburg: 1,943 cases, 97 hospitalizations, 22 deaths; increase of 12 cases
• Spotsylvania County: 9,136 cases, 295 hospitalizations, 109 deaths; increase of 45 cases; one hospitalization removed
• Stafford County: 10,454 cases, 340 hospitalizations, 71 deaths; increase of 36 cases and one hospitalization