The New River Valley Public Health Task Force Monday provided an update on the vaccination effort in Floyd, Giles, Pulaski and Montgomery counties and the city of Radford.
First dose scheduling
The task force is currently vaccinating people in Phase 1a and 1b, which includes frontline essential workers, people age 65 or over and people age 16-64 with underlying medical conditions.
The task force has finished scheduling the people it knows of age 75 and over and is currently scheduling people ages 65-74 with appointments filling through early March. Persons age 75 or over who have not yet had a vaccine appointment scheduled, may call the task force hotline at (540) 838-8222 for an appointment.
Second dose scheduling
As more people become eligible for their second dose, the NRV Public Health Task Force is streamlining its process. Those who received their first-dose appointment through their employer, a pharmacist or a medical provider should go through them for their second-dose appointment.
Those who received their first dose as an individual through one of the New River Health District’s clinics at the Blue Ridge Church in Christiansburg who are eligible for their second dose before February 24 (according to the date on your vaccination card), come to Blue Ridge Church in Christiansburg 28 days after your first dose, which is the date on the back of your card, between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., as close to the time of your first appointment as possible.
Take the card with you to receive the second dose. The task force is working to contact everyone in this group, but anyone who becomes eligible for their second dose before being contacted may come on to receive their second dose.
Those who got their appointment as an individual through the New River Health District’s vaccination clinics at the Blue Ridge Church in Christiansburg who become eligible for the second dose on or after February 24 were given an appointment for their second dose when they received their first dose.
Please come back to Blue Ridge Church in Christiansburg at the same time as your first dose appointment and take your card to receive the second dose. Anyone unable to make that date should come as soon afterwards as possible.
Those who were not vaccinated in the New River Health District vaccination clinics should return to the place where they received their first dose for their second dose.
How to Help
The NRV Public Health Task Force asks everyone to help them identify and pre-register people age 75 and over. Many people in this group have less access to technology.
Please reach out through families, neighborhoods, religious communities and social circles to ensure everyone age 75 and over has pre-registered online to get the vaccine. The situation is changing, and it is important to get information from local, official sources.
The task force suggests everyone should check with its website NRVRoadtowellness.com for updated information. This website is the task force’s official source of COVID-19 information for the New River Health District.
