On Monday, 11 Virginia health districts will begin COVID-19 vaccinations of “frontline essential workers,” including police, teachers and grocery store workers, the Virginia Department of Health announced Friday afternoon.
Some regions will continue vaccinations of priority group 1a, which includes frontline health care providers and employees and residents of long-term care facilities. But the following health districts will move into the second phase of inoculations, for essential workers and others in priority group 1b, the week of Jan. 11:
- Alexandria
- Arlington County
- Cumberland Plateau (Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell counties)
- Fairfax County
- Lenowisco (Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the city of Norton)
- Lord Fairfax (Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah and Warren counties and Winchester)
- Loudoun
- Mount Rogers (cities of Bristol and Galax and counties of Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth, Washington and Wythe)
- New River (Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties and Radford)
- Prince William County
- Roanoke County/Allegheny (Alleghany, Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke counties and the cities of Covington, Roanoke and Salem)
The announcement comes after Gov. Ralph Northam told hospitals, local health departments and districts, and other vaccination locations across the state “to empty those freezers and get shots in arms.” As of Jan. 6, only 116,247 doses of Moderna and Pfizer Inc. COVID vaccines had been administered in the state, out of 481,550 received. Northam warned that if facilities hold on to doses and don’t administer them promptly, they’ll receive fewer doses as more come in from the pharmaceutical companies — a “use it or lose it” model.
