Henrico leads state in inoculation rate per 100,000

Henrico County has provided COVID-19 vaccination doses to more people per 100,000 of population (more than 11,000) than any locality in Virginia, according to county and state data.

Henrico Deputy County Manager for Public Safety Tony McDowell presented that data to the Henrico Board of Supervisors Tuesday during a special 90-minute public meeting about the vaccination process.

Overall, Henrico (the state’s seventh-largest locality) is third statewide in the total number of doses administered – nearly 38,000 – just behind Virginia Beach and farther behind Fairfax County, which is easily the largest locality in Virginia. More than 5,700 people in Henrico are now fully vaccinated, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

County officials expect that every education and public safety employee from Henrico, Richmond, Goochland and Hanover who wanted to receive the vaccine will have had their initial shots by Friday, McDowell told the board. Henrico has been leading regional vaccination efforts at Richmond Raceway during the past three weeks to inoculate those employees from all four jurisdictions; each locality is providing doses allocated to it by the state for the events.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts have prioritized those groups of workers – along with seniors 65 and older and employees and residents of shelters and jails – during the initial portion of Phase 1B of vaccination efforts.

But completing the rest of Phase 1B locally – which also includes six other groups of workers (such as grocery store employees, postal workers and public transit workers) and people 16 to 64 with pre-existing conditions – could take until April, Henrico Health Director and state vaccine coordinator Danny Avula said.

That’s because more than 104,000 residents of Henrico and Richmond who are eligible in the initial portion of Phase 1B have expressed an interest in being vaccinated by completing a form at http://vax.rchd.com, RHHD Nurse Manager Amy Popovich said – a huge number made more overwhelming by the fact that the districts have been receiving fewer than 6,500 doses of vaccine each of the past three weeks (6,400 last week and the week prior, 6,300 this week).

Of this week’s doses, 3,750 were earmarked for Henrico. But the county’s quantity could receive a slight boost – perhaps to 4,500 or so – beginning next week, as local health districts statewide receive 17% to 20% more weekly doses, Avula told supervisors Tuesday night. The increase stems from a federal decision announced last week by President Joe Biden to increase the weekly supply of doses to states.

News Tuesday that CVS would begin administering the vaccine at select store locations in 11 states – including at least one in the Richmond area – Feb. 11 was another promising sign for those anxiously awaiting their turn to be inoculated. But the CVS rollout is expected to be slow, too; the company anticipates initially receiving about 26,000 doses for the 28 stores in Virginia it expects to offer vaccines – about 930 per store, on average.

Richmond and Henrico Health Districts spokesperson Cat Young told the Citizen Tuesday that the RHHD officials are working to explore how they may partner with CVS, but that in the meantime, anyone who may be eligible for vaccinations through CVS should feel free to register for them even if they’ve already completed a vaccine interest form through RHHD.

“We also encourage folks to get a vaccine with whichever qualified medical provider offers it to them first – whether that’s us, their doctor, a pharmacy,” Long said. “Having another large scale provider offer vaccines to our communities is good news.”

Interest form coming for those 16 to 64 with pre-existing conditions
During a briefing Monday, Popovich and RHHD Health Equity Director Jackie Lawrence explained that the district has been prioritizing eligible seniors for vaccines based first upon their age, second upon their race (since the virus disproportionately impacts Blacks and Latinos) and third upon when they completed the interest form.

There are an estimated 55,000 seniors in Henrico and Richmond who don’t live in long-term care facilities, Popovich said during Tuesday night’s meeting.

Also Tuesday, Tuckahoe District Supervisor Pat O’Bannon asked Popovich why the interest form for those 65 and older didn’t include a way for respondents to indicate whether they have pre-existing conditions.

Popovich acknowledged the issue and said she would make sure to have that option added soon. She also said that the districts are working to create an interest form for those 16 to 64 who have pre-existing conditions, in anticipation of launching it in the coming weeks. The timeframe likely will depend upon how much vaccine becomes available.

Anyone who has had a first dose of vaccine but isn’t scheduled for a second dose or is having problems with the scheduling process should e-mail RHHDvax@vdh.virginia.gov, Popovich said. People should be contacted for their second doses in the same ways in which were contacted for their first, she said.

O’Bannon also asked whether the spouses of seniors who are selected for vaccinations could also be vaccinated at the same time or whether, later in the process, entire families could be vaccinated together.

But Avula said that implementing that type of system – especially when vaccine supplies are so limited – would result in fewer people who need the vaccine most actually receiving it immediately.

Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas praised the efforts of county employees and cited the county’s quick formation of a partnership with Westwood Pharmacy and Richmond Raceway, which resulted in the weekly mass vaccination efforts at the raceway and has helped lead Henrico to its rapid vaccination pace.

“[W]e find ourselves in a position where, because of the approach that we have taken. . . the fact that we are willing to look beyond the normal bureaucracy. . . we are leading the state in doses given [per 100,000],” Vithoulkas said. “We are clearly punching above our weight.”

Board Chairman Dan Schmitt (Brookland District) told citizens that the county would continue its efforts to ensure that it’s able to vaccinate them as quickly as possible.

“I want to assure this community that their county will not stop working until this is lifted,” he said.

If more doses become available in the coming weeks, county officials are confident they’ll be able to meet a much higher demand.

“We could easily do 10,000 [vaccinations] in a single day with the operation that’s been stood up at the Richmond Raceway,” Avula said.

In the meantime, the county intends to resume its door-to-door distribution of PPE (such as face masks and hand sanitizer) as well as information about COVID-19 and about the vaccination process, specifically within higher-risk communities, Deputy Henrico Manager for Community Affairs Monica Callahan told supervisors Tuesday. County officials also are planning public awareness campaigns on local radio stations and elsewhere designed to inform the most at-risk communities, she said.