According to Dr. Noelle Bissell, director of the New River Valley Health District, the district is unable to vaccinate all of the region’s college students, including Virginia Tech students, because of a shortage of the vaccines.
Bissell delivered the news during her weekly meeting with the news media.
Bissell said college students generally are heavy spreaders of COVID-19, so vaccinating them sooner rather than later, including ahead of May commencement ceremonies, would help to keep the virus from circulating. But she wants to make sure that individuals at the highest risk for COVID-19 receive vaccines first.
“To vaccinate all of the college students in our district would take a [vaccine] supply that is many times the amount that I get in one week,” Bissell said. “That would be a significant change in allocation, and we don’t want to take away from others who need to be vaccinated because of risk. There’s a lot of things that go into the allocation strategy and at a time where supply doesn’t quite meet demand, there is this balance.”
So far, about 35,000 people in the district have been fully vaccinated. Bissell said people who fall in phases 1a through 1c, the first three priority groups defined by the state, comprise about half of the district’s population.
All vaccines are administered by appointment only through the district because there is not enough vaccine available for walk-ins. Bissell said she hopes that the district eventually can administer vaccines without appointments, perhaps starting this summer when supply is supposed to open up significantly in the state.
“We have to get to a point where supply and demand aren’t so mismatched,” she said.
Overall, COVID-19 cases are declining throughout the district, and Bissell said she is pleased with the progress of vaccinations so far.
Still there are people in the district who want a vaccine but haven’t yet received one. Because of this, it is important that everyone, even those who are fully vaccinated, continue to follow public health guidelines, Bissell said.
As outside temperatures warm up, she encouraged people to socialize outdoors, to wear masks, and to avoid crowded indoor spaces. She acknowledged that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced guidance about what people can do if they have been fully vaccinated, including travel within the United States.
“It really is behavioral here,” Bissell said. “We need to ask people to continue to abide by those precautions to protect each other as we are in a race to get everyone vaccinated. We continue to celebrate every vaccine that’s given because that’s one step closer to the light at the end of the tunnel to get through the pandemic.”
— Written by Jenny Kincaid Boone
