Official: All pre-registered seniors in Henrico have been offered COVID-19 vaccines

All seniors 65 and older in Henrico County and Richmond who had pre-registered for COVID-19 vaccination by last week now have been either partially or fully vaccinated or offered vaccination appointments, according to a Richmond and Henrico Health Districts official.

During a press briefing with Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney Tuesday, RHHD Nurse Manager Amy Popovich said that officials had contacted all 35,000 remaining seniors on their list from the two localities in recent days to attempt to fill the 12,000 available spots at mass vaccination events for seniors Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. They’ll continue contacting the 23,000 or so who didn’t respond in time in an attempt to schedule them for coming events.

The health districts announced Monday that they were opening up vaccination eligibility to everyone in Phase 1B – not just public safety and education employees – and that they had also included restaurant workers in the group. In total, that makes just about 300,000 people in the two localities eligible for the the vaccine, Henrico Chief of Staff Cari Tretina told the Henrico Board of Supervisors during its meeting Tuesday night.

The expansion was possible because the districts continue to receive a higher quantity of doses (10,180 first doses again this week, according to Popovich), and because participating partner pharmacies also are receiving doses directly from the federal government in addition.

Adding restaurant workers – who otherwise would have had to wait until Phase 1C – was a strategic decision, Popovich said.

“We made this decision. . . because we know they are high-risk for work conditions, working in close spaces, exposed to individuals not wearing masks, often may not have the benefits that a job might offer to take off work, or maybe under- or uninsured,” Popovich said. “We also know they create really important places of access for food for our communities, particularly some of our communities that lack grocery stores.”

In an effort to reach underserved communities or those who perhaps didn’t have access to pre-registration, the RHHD also has been proactively reaching out to a variety of communities.

County officials have worked directly with faith-based communities to proactively register and inoculate more than 2,500 people and similarly with Asian communities to inoculate about 600 within three days this week, Tretina said.

“This outreach is not only to get people registered but also to provide information about the vaccine and to explain the safety parameters around it and how it was approved through the FDA,” Tretina said.

Officials also are conducting “pop-up” vaccination events at independent living facilities in Henrico and Richmond, Popovich said.

All those efforts have been appreciated by the community, said Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson, who as a pastor has directly been involved in helping to contact seniors to be vaccinated.

“Exceptional work is being done at the raceway and supporting other events throughout the community,” Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson said. “Just to see the efforts of our people. . . the tireless efforts of thousands and thousands of people that are going through the raceway almost daily now, it’s humbling. Henrico County has been a class act. It means a lot, and our citizens appreciate it.”

Said Henrico Deputy County Manager for Community Affairs Monica Smith Callahan: “It’s tiring but I will tell you the reward comes when we see that senior walking out of the Dominion Building raising their hands, celebrating – some even to tears when I call to schedule because they get to see their family.

“They have hope at the end of this perpetual dark tunnel that they finally get a chance to be reunited with those that they love. And for that, we will all keep pressing. This is why we push.”