NORFOLK, Va. — According to the Virginia Department of Health's vaccine dashboard, as of Jan. 4, only 20% of COVID-19 vaccine doses distributed across the commonwealth had been given to health care workers and people in senior living centers.
VDH said it distributed 451,075 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and 89,326 vaccine doses had been administered to people.
“Absolutely, that’s a shockingly low number, but I’m still hopeful it’ll be an eventual [wide margin]," said Janice Dulay when she found out about the figures. “Eventually it’ll get there, it’s just not as high as you’d think.”
Public health officials previously said they believed the number of administered vaccines is low because of reporting delays, but the percentage of administered vaccines has remained steady for at least a week, and health officials did not project a more accurate count.
Dulay said she wants to see the rate of administered vaccines grow.
“I mean, anything higher than 50 percent," Dulay stated. "There are so many people in hospitals, teachers, people that it should be reaching, and I’m hoping that it does.”
John Dixon of Norfolk said he’s not surprised by the pace. He said the process of giving vaccine doses to the right people was always going to be challenging.
“I think this is a huge undertaking. I’m actually amazed the vaccine was developed so quickly," Dixon said. "I would say, all in all, getting to where we are right now is pretty good progress."
Virginia continues to prioritize vaccinating health care workers and people in nursing homes and senior centers. As of now, VDH has not said how it plans to vaccinate the next groups in line: "essential workers" and high-risk adults.
“The thought of more people being able to have it and have that protection would definitely be peace of mind," Dulay said.
In its update on Jan. 4, VDH said it distributed 46,400 new doses on Sunday (Jan. 3), but only 504 doses were administered.
VDH officials did not respond to interview requests on Monday to provide more information about the dashboard breakdown, including projections of when vaccine administrations could increase.