(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) Fairfax County residents aged 12 to 15 years old can get the Pfizer vaccine starting today.
Last night (May 12), the Virginia Department of Health announced that adolescents in this age range are eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine after federal health officials approved the change earlier in the day.
This morning, the county health department announced on its blog that this expansion of eligibility will include those in the Fairfax Health District, which encompasses the county and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church).
Appointments can be made for this age range by calling 703-324-7404 or by going online to the CDC’s Vaccine Administration Management System, which is being used to manage county health department clinics and a clinic at George Mason University.
The Tysons Community Vaccination Center at the former Lord & Taylor store in Tysons Corner Center will begin vaccinating 12 to 15 years old starting tomorrow (Friday). The clinic will accept walk-ins, though appointments are highly encouraged.
A parent, guardian, or another adult must accompany anyone under the age of 18 to their appointment or walk-in vaccination at all health department-run sites.
Retail pharmacies are also now offering the Pfizer vaccine to this age group, a county health department spokesperson confirms to Tysons Reporter. Residents can search vaccines.gov, which was previously known as VaccineFinder, to see where doses may be available.
The county also suggests that families contact their physician about availability.
In addition, the health department is working with school systems in the Fairfax Health District to coordinate “strategies” to ensure vaccine access to all students.
“The Health Department is working with the school administrations of Fairfax County Public Schools and Fairfax-Falls Church Public Schools on strategies to ensure equity in access to vaccination for under-resourced students,” the blog post says. “Parents are encouraged to monitor their email and school announcements for information and updates.”
FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand said in a joint statement with the health department that more information on the equity vaccine sites should be provided later this month.
In terms of supply, the county anticipates being able to meet demand immediately.
“There remains a large supply of vaccine in our community with numerous vaccine providers unlike in months past,” a county health department spokesperson told Tysons Reporter. “We anticipate a rush, but there are numerous appointment slots to choose from so we don’t expect a lag in terms of meeting demand.”
Based on census data, the county estimates there are nearly 63,000 residents in this age range in the Fairfax Health District.
The administration, side effects, and how long it takes to be fully vaccinated is the same for adolescents as it is for adults. The Pfizer vaccine is given in two doses separated by 21 days, and side effects include pain or redness in the shot location, fatigue, fever, and muscle aches.
Adolescents are also considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the second dose.
Clinical trials for vaccinating kids under the age of 12 remain ongoing.
Fairfax County has surpassed the halfway mark for COVID-19 vaccinations, as reported cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus continue to decline.
According to Virginia Department of Health data, 51% of Fairfax County’s population — or 585,447 residents — have now gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot. That puts the county in line with neighboring jurisdictions in Northern Virginia, including Loudoun (50.4%) and Arlington (51.2%).
After previously trailing by a hair, the county now has now inched past Virginia as a whole in terms of fully vaccinated residents. 35.4% of the county’s population — or 406,383 people — have received all required shots, compared to 35.1% of the state overall.
Virginia has administered at least one dose to more than 4 million people, or 47.1% of its population. 3 million residents have been fully vaccinated.
With more people getting vaccinated, Fairfax County’s COVID-19 caseload continues to shrink.
While the number of new cases ticked back up to 126 cases on Friday (May 7), the Fairfax Health District reported just 22 cases today (Monday), the fewest since 21 cases came in on Sept. 28.
The county is now averaging 63.4 cases over the past seven days, bringing the case rate down to a level not seen since Aug. 1, when the weekly average was at 60.6 cases after hovering in the 50s and 60s throughout July.
The Fairfax Health District has now recorded a total of 77,422 COVID-19 cases, 4,053 hospitalizations, and 1,104 deaths.
While demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has started to ebb, Virginia’s push to achieve herd immunity could get a boost if federal officials approve the vaccine for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 this week as anticipated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet on Wednesday (May 12) to discuss recommending that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine be approved for 12 to 15-year-olds, according to the Fairfax County Health Department.
Pfizer reported on March 31 that its vaccine has shown a 100% efficacy rate and “robust antibody responses” in a clinical trial with 2,260 participants between 12 and 15 years old, none of whom contracted COVID-19 after getting vaccinated.
The company says it expects to get authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for the expanded use of its vaccine, which is currently approved for people 16 and older, sometime this week.
The Fairfax County Health Department says vaccine will be ready so that parents and guardians can start making appointments as soon as the federal approval comes in.
“The state and local health departments will let everyone know when the vaccine is approved for use among 12-15-year-olds and our appointment scheduling systems will update accordingly,” the FCHD said in a blog post.
Chart via Virginia Department of Health
COVID-19 Vaccine Could Soon Be Approved for Teens — The CDC is scheduled to discuss recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for 12 to 15-year-old individuals on Wednesday (May 12). If it is approved, the Fairfax Health District says it will have vaccine available, and state and local appointment scheduling systems will be updated accordingly. [Fairfax County Health Department]
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Giant pharmacies are now offering walk-in COVID-19 vaccine appointments on Monday and Tuesday mornings at all 25 of their locations in Fairfax County.
Giant Foods announced yesterday (May 3) that all of its pharmacies across the D.C. region are allowing for walk-in vaccine appointments from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays. This includes 25 locations in the county, a Giant spokesperson confirmed.
Walk-ins are available for those looking to receive either their first or second dose. For people receiving a first dose, pharmacists will help schedule an appointment for the second dose.
There’s a limited supply available for walk-ins at this time, and appointments are still required for those looking to receive the vaccine at 9 a.m. or later.
Vaccines are being provided at no cost, but Giant is asking residents to bring their health insurance card and driver’s license to their appointment.
Patients will not be denied access to the vaccine if no health insurance is provided, Giant confirms.
Residents can check what vaccine is being offered at specific pharmacies before walking in or making an appointment.
Currently, everyone 16 years and older is eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine, and the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been approved for adults 18 years and older.
Giant pharmacies that were previously offering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are once again doing so, according to a spokesperson.
This comes after Fairfax County and Virginia paused the use of the vaccine in mid-April for over a week to review reports of a few patients developing very rare blood clots after receiving the vaccine.
The pause was lifted on April 23 after both the FDA and CDC expressed confidence that the vaccine was safe and effective.
“Upon review of available data, the FDA and CDC both agreed that the known and potential benefits of the Janssen vaccine outweigh the risks in individuals 18 years of age and older,” Giant says on its vaccine information webpage.
The Fairfax County Health Department says it is aware the pause may make some hesitant about taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but the county still gets inquiries from who residents prefer it, since it requires just one dose and provides immunity more quickly than the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
A glance at the list of what specific Giant pharmacies in the county are offering reveals that more are providing the Pfizer vaccine than the other vaccines. Johnson & Johnson is being offered at the second most pharmacies, with Moderna being offered at the fewest number of locations.
Photo via Google Maps
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May is only three days old, but the month is already looking good for Fairfax County on the pandemic front.
The Fairfax Health District, which also includes the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, reported 53 new COVID-19 cases today (Monday) — the fewest since just 33 cases came in on Oct. 7. That brings the county’s seven-day average down to 82.4 new cases, which is the lowest since the weekly average stood at exactly 82 cases on Oct. 21.
However, where the Oct. 21 number was merely a brief dip in what would escalate into the area’s winter surge, this new low for 2021 is part of a decline in new cases that has lasted since April 13, when Fairfax County recorded 231 new cases and averaged 194.4 cases over the past week.
In fact, since dipping from 105.9 cases on April 28 to 98.9 cases on April 29, the county’s weekly average has stayed below 100 cases for almost a full week.
The Fairfax Health District has reported a total of 76,968 cases, 4,022 hospitalizations, and 1,101 deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The downward trend in COVID-19 cases comes as Fairfax County nears a key milestone in its vaccination campaign: almost half of the county’s residents have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the Virginia Department of Health dashboard, which does not include some federally administered doses, 550,553 Fairfax County residents — 48% of the county’s total population — have gotten at least one dose. That is a higher rate than the state as a whole, which has delivered at least one dose to 3.8 million people, or 45.1% of its population.
At the same time, Fairfax County remains a tick behind Virginia overall when it comes to residents being fully vaccinated. 31.3% of the county’s population — or 359,677 residents — is now fully vaccinated, compared to 32% of the state.
Whether Fairfax County can reach that 50% mark for first-dose vaccinations this week remains to be seen.
After finally obtaining enough doses last week to vaccinate everyone who wants the vaccine, the county health department received fewer supplies from Virginia in its most recent shipments. 43,480 first and second doses came in during the week of April 26 to May 2, compared to 67,590 doses for the preceding week of April 19-25.
While Virginia lifted its pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on April 23, the Fairfax County Health Department had not yet ordered any additional batches of the one-shot vaccine as of April 30, because the county still had a small supply that it was using for its homebound and long-term care programs, according to FCHD spokesperson Tina Dale.
“We would place orders for J&J vaccine when community providers we redistribute to require more vaccine and to replenish our stock as needed,” Dale said.
FCHD Assistant Public Health Emergency Management Coordinator Colin Brody told Tysons Reporter that the J&J vaccine has been reintroduced in the county primarily through local pharmacies, which get their supplies directly from the federal government through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.
The county says it is aware that some people may be reluctant to get the J&J vaccine after its use was temporarily suspended due to reports of a few recipients developing a rare disorder involving blood clots.
“However the data reviewed by scientists at CDC and FDA indicated that J&J is a safe vaccine to use,” Brody said in an emailed statement. “We continue to receive inquiries from residents about where they can go to receive the J&J vaccine, especially because it is a single-dose option that provides immunity within 2 weeks of the first and only dose, as compared to 5 to 6 weeks with Moderna and Pfizer.”
Images via CDC on Unsplash, Virginia Department of Health
Virginians who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are officially free to go outside and visit fully vaccinated friends without wearing a face mask.
Gov. Ralph Northam announced yesterday (Thursday) that he has amended the state’s public health rules to conform with new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that loosens mask-wearing and social distancing protocols for people who are fully vaccinated, meaning two weeks have passed since they received their last required vaccine dose.
Released on April 27, the CDC’s new recommendations state that fully vaccinated people face “minimal risk” of contracting or transmitting COVID-19 when engaged in outdoor activities such as exercising or eating outside. They also likely face little risk from small, private indoor gatherings and visits to public indoor spaces with other fully vaccinated people.
The CDC emphasizes that masks should still be worn indoors when unvaccinated people are present, especially if they are at increased risk of severe illness from the novel coronavirus, and in crowded outdoor settings like concerts or sporting events where maintaining social distancing is difficult.
“The CDC’s recommendations underscore what we have said all along — vaccinations are the way we will put this pandemic behind us and get back to normal life,” Northam said. “Our increasing vaccination rate and decreasing number of new COVID-19 cases has made it possible to ease mitigation measures in a thoughtful and measured manner. I encourage all Virginians who have not yet received the vaccine to make an appointment today.”
Touted as another incentive for people to get vaccinated, the new CDC guidelines came out amid news reports that COVID-19 vaccine demand has slowed in some parts of the country to the point where state and local governments are declining shipments.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay told Tysons Reporter yesterday that that has not been the case in the county, which has only just gotten enough supplies to meet demand.
As of April 29, 529,402 Fairfax County residents — or 46.1% of the total population — had received at least one vaccine dose, and 334,568 residents — 29.2% of the population — had been fully vaccinated, according to Virginia Department of Health data, which does not include some doses administered by the federal government.
Statewide, more than 3.7 million Virginians — 57% of the adult population — have now gotten at least one dose, and 2.5 million Virginians are fully vaccinated, or 39% of the adult population, according to Northam.
Fairfax County officials say they will support the new guidelines in Northam’s amended executive order.
“We will continue to follow the guidance put out by the state and follow the data, just as we always have,” McKay said in a statement. “I know everyone is looking forward to seeing their loved ones again without fear of spreading COVID. Getting vaccinated will be necessary to do so however, so I recommend that everyone make an appointment as soon as possible.”
With high school football games nearing an end and spring sports like baseball starting up, Northam also announced yesterday that he has accelerated plans to ease capacity limits on outdoor recreational sports, which are now permitted up to 1,000 spectators, effective immediately.
That change was previously scheduled to take effect on May 15, when restrictions on social gatherings, entertainment venues, and alcohol sales at restaurants will be loosened.
Northam says he anticipates removing all capacity limits in mid-June “as long as the Commonwealth’s health metrics remain stable and vaccination progress continues.”
(Updated at 9:55 a.m. on 4/30/2021) Fairfax County now has enough supply to vaccinate whoever wants to be vaccinated, the county health department announced yesterday (April 28).
This comes only a week after the county said there wasn’t enough vaccine to meet the new demand from eligibility expanding into with the move to Phase 2. Several days after that, vaccine appointments on Vaccine Finder still remained hard to come by due to the short supply.
But that has now changed, thanks to an increase in supplies at the state and federal levels, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay told Tysons Reporter.
Plus, he says, there are now more providers giving vaccines including grocery stores and pharmacies as well as private practices.
A look at Vaccine Finder reveals that grocery stores and pharmacies across the region have more open appointments than they did last week. The Harris Teeters on Crestwood Heights Drive in Tysons and on Avenir Place in Dunn Loring, for example, appear to have several openings today.
Last week, Fairfax County retail pharmacies received 42,070 vaccine doses as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Partnership. The county was allocated 30,552 doses from the partnership this week, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
“However, since pharmacies shift inventory among themselves, the actual number could be different,” the VDH spokesperson told Tysons Reporter.
There’s also a state-run mass vaccination clinic in the county, which opened last week at the former Lord & Taylor in Tysons Corner Center and is now offering walk-in appointments.
“The Tysons Community Vaccination Center has a very large capacity — 3,000 people per day,” McKay said. “Paired with other sites throughout the county, it has certainly increased the capacity to vaccinate more people.”
As of yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), the clinic had administered 11,761 vaccinations since it opened eight days ago. That number was expected to top 12,000 by the end of the day, McKay said.
When visiting the facility around 4 p.m. yesterday, First Lady Pamela Northam noted that about half of Virginians have now received at least one vaccine dose. More than 6 million doses have now been delivered in the state, and close to 30% of residents are fully vaccinated.
The Fairfax County Health Department also continues to operate vaccine clinics at the Fairfax County Government Center and George Mason University. Appointments for those sites can be booked through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS).
With supply and appointments becoming more available, including a potential resumption of the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after the pause was lifted last Friday, it’s possible that the county could meet the May 31 deadline set last month by both state and federal officials of delivering at least one dose of the vaccine to everyone who wants one.
However, McKay again didn’t fully commit to that target date.
“It is certainly our goal to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible,” he told Tysons Reporter.
In some places across the country, vaccine supply is so far exceeding demand that mass vaccination sites are closing and localities are actually declining more vaccines.
According to McKay, that is not the case in Fairfax County, but supply has at last met demand.
“For many months, our demand was greater than supply,” he said. “Supply is now available at the level required to vaccinate anyone 16+ in Fairfax. That said, now is the time to get vaccinated.”
