Virginia is embarking on a statewide COVID-19 vaccination program, meaning local systems will shut down later Friday to integrate their waiting lists.
Virginia is starting a statewide COVID-19 vaccination program, and that means local systems will be shut down Friday night.
The Virginia Department of Health said in a statement that local vaccination registry systems will be shut down at 5 p.m. Friday and the new statewide system will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
Current waiting lists at local health departments will be folded statewide in the system, the health department said.
Virginia vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula, said at a press conference Friday that the local systems will reopen, but they will link to the site statewide.
There is one big exception: Fairfax County.
“The Fairfax Health District will not be using the new system at this time,” the Fairfax County Health Department said Friday. They said residents should not register with the state site, but continue to use the county system.
“We have invested a lot of resources in our registry system and eliminated the kinks to ensure that we continue to process 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 am pleased that we can maintain our system that the residents know to avoid confusion.”
“They’ve worked really hard to build their own system,” Avula said of Fairfax County; “We absolutely hope they will join soon.”
McKay echoed that sentiment, “We will continue to hold talks with the state about registration while the vaccine process is rolled out.”
“Over the weekend,” said the state health agency, “the Commonwealth will deduplicate, clean up and consolidate data from local health district systems.” People “keep their current status in the queue,” it added.
The major changes that a statewide system will bring about, Avula said, include a standard form for all Virginians, so they answer the same questions about which priority groups they belong to.
The new system will also address a widespread problem, he added: “A confirmation will appear on the screen when you actually put the information on the form” and “you will also get weekly reminders” about where you are in the queue. . Residents can also check their status at any time.
Call center
The centralized system also provides a statewide call center, with 750 callers speaking English and Spanish, as well as third-party access to translators in 100 languages. This, Avula predicted, would help address equality questions for people who don’t have easy Internet access and who can’t jump right on a website in the morning to make an appointment.
In addition to taking appointments, callers can answer common questions about COVID-19, Avula said.
Residents will provide their address when they sign up and their appointments will be in their local health districts, Avula said. Local districts “will still compile their own lists,” he said.
The phone number and web address will be provided next week.
Fairfax County Dashboard
Friday afternoon, Fairfax County launched its own COVID-19 vaccine dashboard.
McKay said the district dashboard “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 vaccine doses the county received and how much it administered, as well as what date people currently getting appointments were originally registered. From Friday, the province made appointments for people who registered on January 18.
McKay said the need for such a dashboard became apparent shortly after people started enrolling in vaccines and the low stocks meant they had to wait longer than expected: “We were hoping we’d talk in a few weeks,” but in reality: “We need to make sure we adjust people’s expectations.”
He said everyone on the county’s waiting list was notified on Friday that they were still in line, and he hoped the transparency of the dashboard would make the wait less stressful. McKay added that he expected the stock of vaccine doses to continue to rise every week.
WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.
More Coronavirus News
Looking for more information? DC, Maryland and Virginia release more data every day. Visit their official sites here: Virginia | Maryland | DC
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