Confusion Over CVS Vaccine Reservations — “The confusion began early Tuesday morning, with people reaching out to ABC7 to express their frustration over the COVID-19 vaccine registration process at CVS pharmacies in Virginia. ‘They didn’t do what they said they were going to do, and it’s just really frustrating,’ said Roxanne Grandis, who’s been trying to make vaccine appointments for her elderly parents.” [WJLA]
Some Kudos For County Vaccination Effort — “Virginia’s been struggling for weeks to administer vaccine doses. Out of the 1.38 million doses the Commonwealth received, officials only injected 1.1 million. That’s roughly 80%. Meanwhile, Arlington County is setting the standard at 97%. How did they do it? With other areas struggling, how did Arlington Public Health succeed on all levels? Local officials say it’s been a team effort.” [The Dogwood]
Chase Young’s Arlington Connection — “Washington Football Team defensive end Chase Young, whose father was in law enforcement, testified before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, expressing support for police reform… Young, named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year on Saturday, grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, but his father spent 22 years as a police officer in Arlington, Virginia.” [ESPN]
Arlington Man Running for Governor — “Another Northern Virginia executive is joining the Republican race for governor. Peter Doran of Arlington said Tuesday he is seeking this year’s GOP gubernatorial nomination. It is his first run for office.” [Associated Press]
Arlington Dems Eye High Rises — “Mid-rise and high-rise living represents a large swath of the Arlington population, and ‘many of them are inaccessible to outside groups,’ said Carol Fontein, who heads the robust precinct-operations efforts of Arlington Democrats. As a result, the party aims to recruit those living in multi-family complexes to help with outreach – within the limits set by owners of the properties.” [InsideNova]
Lines for vaccinations at Arlington’s Sequoia Plaza complex in February 2021 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Lines for vaccinations at Arlington’s Sequoia Plaza complex on Friday (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Lines for vaccinations at Arlington’s Sequoia Plaza complex on Friday (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated at 11 a.m.) COVID-19 vaccinations have reached a new peak in Arlington, but the effort has led to lines at one county vaccination site.
Nearly 5,000 doses have been administered in Arlington over the past four days, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. The seven-day trailing average of doses administered is now just shy of 900 per day, a new record for the county.
In all, 20,675 doses have been administered, and 4,495 people have been fully vaccinated in Arlington, according to VDH data. The latter represents about 2% of the county’s population.
On Friday and Saturday, those eligible to be vaccinated under Virginia’s Phase 1b group — many of them elderly — flocked to the Arlington County Dept. of Human Services building at Sequoia Plaza (2110 Washington Blvd) to receive their vaccination shots. That led to some reports of crowding.
“Waiting in an outrageous line with my 80 year father to get his COVID vaccine,” one tipster told ARLnow on Friday. “His appointment was for 1:45 p.m. — and the 1:30 group [is] still wrapped around the parking lot. These are ELDERLY PEOPLE standing around for 30+ minutes… maybe 2 or 3 chairs among the entire group. Unacceptable.”
On Saturday morning, the crowding apparently was such that Arlington Transit buses were rerouted in order to avoid the area.
Due to heavy traffic from a DHS event, ART 42, 45, & 77 will not service Sequoia Plaza until the event has finished. Passengers can board at 2nd & S Courthouse.
Cara O’Donnell, spokeswoman for the county’s health division, said the lines were the result of a full vaccination schedule, people showing up early to their appointments, the need for social distancing, and other factors.
“It’s taking us a bit longer to process all of our clients today, as it’s a full schedule,” O’Donnell told ARLnow on Saturday. “Quite a few require additional assistance and we’re careful to ensure we take the time we need with each client. From what I’m hearing, that’s leading to some car backups. Our staff and volunteers are working to get through as efficiently as we can.”
Arlington County is getting 2,750 first vaccine doses per week from the state, O’Donnell said. Many of the other doses being reported by VDH are second doses. Virginia Hospital Center and other hospitals are no longer receiving first doses from the Commonwealth, but hospitals still have second doses on hand.
“VHC has been very intentional in managing our existing vaccine supply to ensure that all individuals who received a first dose through VHC will receive their second,” a hospital spokesperson told ARLnow on Friday. “The Hospital is continuing to provide second doses to individuals at our community vaccine clinic, to Arlington Free Clinic patients, and to those staff and healthcare workers who received their first dose at Virginia Hospital Center.”
In all, about 2,000 of the doses administered in Arlington over the past four days have been second doses. There are more awaiting eager arms: Arlington has received 32,825 doses, according to the state health department, meaning 12,150 doses have yet to be administered.
“Available data from scientific studies of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines continue to support the use of two doses of each authorized vaccine at specified intervals,” the hospital spokesperson said. “The use of one dose administration is not supported by adequate scientific evidence at this time.”
The quickened pace of vaccinations comes amid a backdrop of Arlington’s coronavirus caseload remaining in the 400-600 cases per week range.
Just under 500 new cases have been reported over the past week, bringing the cumulative total of confirmed cases in Arlington to 12,262 as of Monday morning. Six additional deaths and 13 hospitalizations have been reported over the past week, bringing the county’s pandemic total to 207 deaths and 742 hospitalizations.
Arlington’s test positivity rate, meanwhile, has been declining over the past couple of weeks and currently stands at 6.1%.
While vaccine supply remains constrained, some health experts are encouraging officials to start planning for an abundance of vaccine supply in the spring, as tens of millions of additional dosesbecome available.
I agree.
We need to start planning past the period of scarcity for a time when outreach and persuasion becomes important in getting shots in arms
We need state and federal officials to be planning (and communicating) how primary care practices get included in distribution https://t.co/DqlE3BBgqL
Arlington County vaccination clinic (via Arlington County/YouTube)
Vaccine being given at Arlington County vaccination clinic (via Arlington County/YouTube)
Arlington County vaccination clinic (via Arlington County/YouTube)
Vaccine dose being given at an Arlington County vaccination clinic (via Arlington County/YouTube)
Arlington County Public Health Director Dr. Rubin Varghese at walk-up coronavirus testing center opening in May (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated 4 p.m.) Officials with Arlington County Public Health Division say they are not wasting coronavirus vaccine doses, but they also do not condone people getting vaccinated out of turn.
During a COVID-19 work session on Tuesday, County Board members told health division staff that their constituents frequently express concerns about line-jumping by those who do not currently qualify for vaccinations under Virginia Dept. of Health’s Phase 1b guidelines.
“Everyone knows someone who isn’t in the 75-plus category or the personnel identified yet but got vaccinated because their eye doctor, brother or psychiatrist,” Board member Katie Cristol said, listing the kinds of connections that people are allegedly using.
Arlington County Public Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese acknowledged those fears but said that, amid everything else that’s going on, officials do not have the capacity to verify these claims. Staff members do remove people from vaccine appointments if they notice something unusual, he said.
“I have to believe that Americans as a whole and residents in Arlington are going to be truthful and not line-jump,” Varghese said. “I know people are going to say ‘you’re being naive,’ but we don’t chip people and we don’t have a national health system that we can track people. The vast majority of people have done the right thing, and because of what we’re doing in Arlington, we don’t have the conditions where I think line-jumping is going to be as likely as other places.”
Meanwhile, total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county have reached 11,867, with 61 new cases and three new hospitalizations as of this morning (Wednesday). The seven-day trailing average of new cases has fallen over the past few days, and currently stands at about 65 cases per day, after peaking at nearly 125 daily cases three weeks ago.
“This [wave] has doubled, if not more than doubled, what we’ve been seeing in the past,” Varghese said.
Last week, Jan. 24-30, about 6,500 tests turned up 482 positive results, said Aaron Miller, the county’s emergency management director. The test positivity rate remains at 7.5%, which is high compared to most of the pandemic, he said.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, Arlington County has received 26,725 vaccine doses. The newest shipment of 2,700 doses came Monday, for a total of 9,775 doses to the health division, compared to the 16,675 total doses that have gone to Virginia Hospital Center, County Manager Mark Schwartz said. He added the online dashboard might be off by about 200 doses.
The county is also starting to prepare for a new distribution method: Yesterday, the federal government announced it will start sending vaccines to select pharmacies next week.
“Now our job is to go back to the state and figure out what it means for the state and for Arlington,” Miller said.
Varghese also refuted the claim of wasted doses. Last week’s use rate — shown in the graphic below — was so close to 100% that it “pushed the envelope,” he said. Currently, he tries to reserve 10% for the start of the next week, as new shipments come either on Monday or Tuesday.
He said if vaccines are close to expiring, the county picks groups lower down the 1B prioritization list to vaccinate. That way, the county does not encourage loitering outside the clinic at 2100 Washington Blvd. or near grocery stores for chance doses, which “creates other problems,” he said.
(The 1b group includes “Persons aged 75 and older; Police, Fire, and Hazmat; Corrections and homeless shelter workers; Childcare/K-12 Teachers/Staff; Food and Agriculture (including Veterinarians); Manufacturing; Grocery store workers; Public transit workers; Mail carriers (USPS and private); Officials needed to maintain continuity of government.”)
Meanwhile, staff members have scheduled around 1,900 appointments for those 75 and older who had their VHC appointments canceled. Of the 3,200 people in this category, about 3,000 have been contacted. They are also contacting people 75 and older who were not in the hospital’s system.
This is the only group for whom the county is rescheduling appointments at this time, Varghese said.
Those who are 65 to 74 years old or 18 to 64 years old with high-risk medical conditions should pre-register with the county, regardless of whether they had appointments with VHC.
Once people arrive at the county’s clinic, at the Sequoia Plaza office complex near Route 50 and Washington Blvd, they are greeted by a team of volunteers and nurses. According to a behind-the-scenes video from the county, between 50% and 75% of the staff manning the vaccine clinics are volunteers.
“I know there are frustrating things going on across the country and even in Arlington, but I promise once you get here you’ll have a great experience, and you’ll help end the pandemic just by getting a vaccine,” said Dallas Smith, the site director for the Arlington County Vaccination Pod, in the video.
The coronavirus continues to circulate in Arlington, as vaccinations continue at a moderate pace.
The latest data from the Virginia Dept. of Health, as of Feb. 1, shows a pace of infections that is down from last month’s peak, but remains elevated compared to the relatively quiet summer and early fall.
Over the past seven days exactly 500 new cases have been reported in Arlington, down from the peak fo 864 on Jan. 12. One new COVID-related death has been reported since Friday — bringing the county’s total to 201 — and 14 new hospitalizations have been reported over the past seven days.
The number of new daily cases was in the double digits each of the previous seven days; the last time that happened, without days reaching the triple digits, was early December.
A slight reduction in cases was noted by Virginia Hospital Center ER chief Mike Silverman in his weekly public social media post Friday night.
“There is some good news on the COVID volume front,” he wrote. “The number of patients that we have in the hospital is down another 10% from last week. Our overall, hospital positivity rate is up a touch compared to last week but much lower than a few weeks. In the Emergency department, our COVID isolation numbers are down 10% or so as well.”
Silverman noted that vaccinations appear to be working — he’s unaware of any hospital staff more than 10 days out from their second vaccine dose that have tested positive for the virus — but the rate of vaccinations is much lower than public demand.
According to VDH data, an average of 638 vaccine doses per day have been administered in Arlington over the past week. Only 1,205 locals are reported to be fully vaccinated, though that data may exclude Arlington’s sizable population of federal employees and military personnel.
The county’s vaccination effort has been paused for the day due to weather conditions, but is set to resume Tuesday.
County officials have promised that Arlington has the capacity to do more vaccinations should it receive more supply from the state, which is itself constrained by vaccine supply from the federal government.
Despite the seemingly good news on a lower rate of cases, Silverman cautions that it is unlikely to last given viral mutations.
“Although things clearly look better now compared to 2 weeks ago, our numbers are not at the low levels that we saw over the summer and we’re expecting another surge in March because of the UK variant that may cause more significant disease,” he wrote. “And so, while I am in favor of trying to get schools reopened, it has to be done strategically, following best practice guidelines to insure student, staff, and community safety.”
Another word of caution from the emergency room: Silverman said he’s aware of “several” patients who tested positive around the holidays, and did not require hospitalization at the time, but recently had to come to the ER about a month after their initial diagnosis due to worsening symptoms. Normally, initial COVID-19 symptoms last one to two weeks.
Two hundred people have died from COVID-19 in Arlington, according to the latest figures from the Virginia Dept. of Health.
One new fatality was reported today. Four have been reported over the past week. In all, 725 people have been hospitalized in Arlington as a result of a COVID-19 infection, according to VDH, out of 11,555 total confirmed cases.
The seven-day trailing average of cases has been rising this week, after hitting a one-month low of just over 67 cases per day on Sunday. The trailing average current stands at 78 daily cases.
Older residents and people of color have been overrepresented among the coronavirus deaths in Arlington. A demographic analysis of VDH data is below.
Black: 21% of deaths, 9.6% of population
Latino: 18% of deaths, 15.1% of population
Asian: 10.5% of deaths, 9.6% of population
White: 46.5% of deaths, 64% of population
Three percent of deaths were among those of two or more races, or unknown race. Despite the grim milestone, the 200 reported coronavirus deaths represent less than 0.1% of the county’s population.
No deaths have been reported among Arlington residents under the age of 40. The ages of those who have died are below.
40-49: 5% of deaths
50-59: 5% of deaths
60-69: 13% of deaths
70-79: 26% of deaths
80+: 52% of deaths
An additional 812 vaccine doses were reported as administered today, according to VDH, with 1,602 people now listed as fully vaccinated with two doses.
Arlington County officials have been urging state and federal authorities to speed up the distribution of additional doses, asserting that the county is prepared to administer up to 2,000 vaccine doses per day.
(Updated 4:30 p.m.) Arlington County officials are acknowledging the fear, anger and frustration people feel and are asking for patience as vaccine plans change.
During the County Board meeting on Saturday, board member Libby Garvey said the state and federal governments are “moving the goalposts, changing the rules and switching out equipment.” County Manager Mark Schwartz said that in the distribution process, “chaos is reigning.”
“I hear the pain and the upset and I don’t blame people for feeling that way,” Garvey later told ARLnow.
About 50% of Virginians are eligible for doses because of their age, job or health condition, but the state is telling local jurisdictions that it will take until March or April to get through this group unless the slow drip of supply from the federal government is sped up.
“There are simply not enough doses available yet for everyone who is eligible to receive them,” said Craig Fifer, a liaison on vaccines between the state and local governments.
“Maybe we can lean into our role of helping our community understand [the rollout],” he said.
Here’s what we know.
Who has been vaccinated?
According to the state vaccine dashboard, nearly 24,000 doses have been shipped to Arlington County but as of this week, only 7,850 of them have gone to Arlington Public Health Division. Some went to VHC and others are earmarked for the federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens to vaccinate long-term care residents.
Public Health Division spokesman Ryan Hudson also attributed the gap to reporting delays, since providers sometimes take up to 72 hours to log administered doses.
Arlington County is not “holding onto the vaccine, except [to get] ready for the following week,” Arlington County’s Public Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese said on Saturday. He said he saves about 10% of vaccines as a contingency until a new shipment comes.
Hudson said that the county’s public health division and VHC can together administer at least 2,000 doses per day, based on infrastructure, staff and preparation.
“We can do more if we were assured a greater supply of doses from Virginia,” he said.
Virginia is currently receiving approximately 105,000 new doses per week, a pace that could increase by 16% in the near future, said Fifer, who also serves as communications director for the City of Alexandria.
Like Arlington, the Commonwealth is seeing gaps between delivered and administered doses. The state has worked to close these gaps by redistributing doses, reducing data entry backlogs and accounting for the status of doses sent to CVS and Walgreens, Fifer said. About half of doses marked as received, but not administered, are earmarked for second doses.
Who is eligible?
About 50% of Virginia is currently eligible under Phase 1B, which Gov. Ralph Northam has expanded to those 65 and older and those younger than 65 with high-risk medical conditions.
The good news is that coronavirus cases are on a downswing in Arlington.
On Sunday, the seven-day trailing average of new daily cases in the county hit 67.4, the lowest point since Dec. 5. It rose slightly today, as 120 new local cases were reported by the Virginia Dept. of Health.
One new COVID-related death and one new hospitalization were reported over the weekend. The seven-day total of new hospitalizations currently stands at eight.
The drop in cases is being matched by a drop in the county’s test positivity rate, which is now 8.2%, down from 11.9% earlier this month. That was echoed by Virginia Hospital Center ER chief Mike Silverman, in his weekly public Facebook post.
“There does appear to be some good news on the testing front from the emergency department,” Silverman wrote. “For the second week in a row, we saw a slight decline in the number of patients that tested positive in the emergency department. I am also seeing a slight decline in the positivity rate when I look at emergency department patients who present with symptoms that suggest COVID as well as all comers.”
There are concerns, however, that new coronavirus strains may make vaccinations less effective while spreading faster than the current dominant strain in the U.S., leading to a resurgence in cases.
Additional vaccine doses continue to be administered locally, meanwhile, despite a reported lack of vaccine supply.
VDH today reported 1,073 new doses being administered, bringing the seven-day average just above 600 doses per day. A total of 9,994 doses have been administered in Arlington to day, while 847 people have been fully vaccinated with two doses, according to VDH.
On Friday, Arlington County announced that it was working to reschedule thousands of vaccination appointments — many for older Arlington residents — cancelled by Virginia Hospital Center after VDH announced that vaccine doses would only be distributed to local health districts, not hospitals.
“Arlington County is ready to deliver vaccine as supplies become available from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and will be diligently working to contact affected Arlingtonians in the coming weeks,” Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said in a statement. “We also understand the community’s frustration and appreciate everyone’s patience. We thank our community partners like Virginia Hospital Center and know how critical this vaccine is for the safety and security of our residents.”
The Friday night announcement, and the chaotic rollout of the state and local vaccination effort, has prompted a flood of criticism on social media, in emails to ARLnow, and elsewhere.
“You know that when a government entity puts out a press release in the 8 p.m. hour on a Friday night it’s either bad news, news the government doesn’t want to answer questions about until Monday morning, or a combination of the two,” wrote Sun Gazette editor Scott McCaffrey on his blog this morning. “To its credit, the Arlington government was answering pesky questions from the media.”
“It seems like the blame needs to go to Richmond, which has, by any independent measure, had a tough go of it in getting its act together from the very start of virus-time, nearly a year ago,” McCaffrey added.
Others who contacted ARLnow were less charitable about the county’s responsibility, using words like “shameful” and “mishandled” in criticizing the planning of the local vaccination effort. Others, mostly those 75 years of age or older who fought for a now-cancelled VHC vaccination slot, were upset at online rumors of people who were not in the current vaccination priority group receiving vaccine doses nonetheless.
Pandemic-related data trends in Arlington are pointing in a positive direction, at least for now.
As of Tuesday morning, the average daily rate of new cases is 94, compared to a local pandemic peak of 123.4 average daily cases one week ago. Since Saturday, 340 new cases have been reported.
Two new COVID-related deaths have also been reported since Saturday. There have been 20 new hospitalizations over the past week, according to Virginia Dept. of Health figures.
The average rate of vaccinations is also up in Arlington, after nearly two thousand Arlington Public Schools employees received vaccine doses on Saturday and Monday. According to state health department data on vaccinations, as compiled by ARLnow, an average of 419 daily vaccine doses have been administered in Arlington over the past week, up from just over 200 daily doses a week ago.
As of this morning, according to VDH, a total of 6,364 doses have been administered in Arlington, with 656 people having received the full two-dose course of the vaccine. The latter represents 0.34% of the county’s adult population.
ARLnow has heard numerous complaints from readers about the vaccination effort so far, ranging from concerns about vaccinations not going quickly enough, to a botched rollout of the county’s vaccine scheduling system, to assertions that people who do not currently qualify for vaccinations are being allowed to register and receive them.
Arlington officials, meanwhile, say the biggest constraint to local vaccinations is a lack of supply from the state, not challenges with vaccine scheduling and administration. Virginia officials, in turn, say they’re only expecting first-round 110,000 doses per week from the federal government.
The county issued the following press release about vaccine supply on Monday.
Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said today that the County’s ability to inoculate those eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is limited only by the availability of vaccine supply.
“Today Arlington will be inoculating 900 Arlington County teachers, after inoculating 900 on Saturday,” de Ferranti said. “We have the capacity to do at least 2,000 doses per day or 14,000 per week, and we can do more if we were assured a greater supply. The County Manager and our Public Health Director have informed me that currently, we are being promised only 1,400 doses this week of the first-dose vaccine.
“Arlington has the infrastructure, staff, and preparation in place to continue to deliver the vaccine at the scale of these two events, and we are ready to use considerable additional staff from our Fire Department to scale immediately to do more vaccines. Supply of vaccine is the only limitation on our ability to put shots in arms,” de Ferranti said. “While we are aware that the uncertainty of federal distribution to the states seems to be affecting our local supply, we seek a commitment from the Virginia Department of Health that more doses will be allocated to Arlington. We are ready to expand our weekly throughput immediately to 10,000 doses per week, but we need assurance from VDH on delivery of first vaccines and greater clarity about the arrival of second doses.”
Acknowledging that “many residents are frustrated,” Arlington officials on Friday urged patience with the county’s vaccine distribution, while calling on the state for more doses.
Earlier this week, vaccinations in Arlington were happening at a pace of just over 200 per day. At that rate, it would take more than two years just to give a single dose of the two-dose vaccine to every adult resident of the county.
Over the past two days the pace has quickened, with more than 400 doses administered each day. As of Friday morning, a total of 4,573 doses had been administered and 550 people in Arlington had been fully vaccinated.
Still, ARLnow has received a barrage of emails in recent days from people saying Arlington should be moving faster, given the more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths per day nationwide and the growing prevalence of a more contagious virus strain.
“The inability to ramp up to a more reasonable speed is terrible,” said one person. “People are dying.”
In a press release today, the county said it is “moving quickly to ramp up access for eligible Arlingtonians.”
“This weekend, the Arlington County Public Health Division will hold two clinics to vaccinate 1,800 individuals from the Childcare/PreK-12 Teachers/Staff priority group identified in Phase 1b,” the press release noted.
But even that effort is not without controversy.
As ARLnow first reported Thursday, the county-led registration process for Arlington Public Schools employees to sign up for vaccinations was botched, with many not receiving the emails and links required to register. Some of those that did manage to register and get a confirmation email the first time around were subsequently told that it was not actually a confirmation of an appointment.
“You received the WordPress confirmation due to an error in the technology that allowed more appointments to be booked than were available,” school employees were told this afternoon, in an email from Arlington’s public health division.
Some who received that initial confirmation were not able to secure a spot when registration reopened last night, we’re told.
“There were limited slots available,” APS spokesman Frank Bellavia explained today. “Public Health sent an email last night to those staff who didn’t receive an appointment to schedule one of the remaining available slots. Those remaining slots were filled by this morning.”
Ryan Hudson, spokesman for Arlington public health, said the county is now waiting on more vaccine supply and cannot say for sure when the remainder of APS employees will be vaccinated.
“We can’t give a specific date when all APS teachers and staff will be vaccinated, as the ability to schedule appointments will depend on increased distribution of vaccine from Virginia,” he said.
“The expansion of people eligible under Phase 1b unfortunately does not increase Arlington’s limited supply of vaccine doses,” Hudson added. “The County began establishing its distribution plan and infrastructure in 2020. Arlington is prepared to expedite appointments as soon as the County receives additional doses from Virginia.”
County health director Dr. Reuben Varghese told the Arlington County Board earlier this week that the county was still working to establish infrastructure for mass vaccinations. Asked by ARLnow why that process did not start sooner, County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said much work was done leading up to the arrival of the first vaccine doses.
“Freezers were ordered, [a] website was developed and we already had a pre-existing relationship with Virginia Hospital Center,” he said today. “Many other infrastructure steps were taken, but demand [for the vaccine] so far exceeds supply. Other Northern Virginia jurisdictions and D.C. are also seeing similar challenges. We are working to get as much of the vaccine as soon as possible. We are asking for as much patience as folks can find.”
In this afternoon’s press release, de Ferranti defended the efforts of Varghese and County Manager Mark Schwartz.
“As the situation continues to change rapidly, our County Manager and Public Health Director are working flat-out to secure vaccines and to get them into arms,” he said. “The Board has assured them that we will provide whatever resources are needed to get this done.”
Arlington health officials are working to ramp up the pace of vaccinations, but the effort to vaccinate Arlington Public Schools staff has hit a snag.
School staff are set to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as part of Phase 1b of Virginia’s vaccination effort. But in a memo to APS employees this morning, Superintendent Francisco Durán acknowledged “frustration” over “technology issues [staff] encountered with the appointment process.”
“Arlington rolled out vaccine registration last night around 6 p.m.,” one APS staffer told ARLnow, describing what happened. “Two e-mails were sent and a response was required to both emails in order to set up an appointment.”
“Some staff, however, only received one email and couldn’t register. Some staff — including many assistants already working with students in Level One — didn’t receive either email,” the staffer continued. “And the staff who did believe they had registered last night received an email late last night informing them that the system had crashed and they might not really have an appointment.”
Another tipster told us: “Anecdotally, I only know a couple staff who DID receive the emails from [the health department]. The process is opaque, as we have only been told to expect an email, and we have no idea how scheduling will work.”
A county health department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment this afternoon.
Durán’s memo is below.
Dear Colleagues,
Yesterday, the Arlington County Public Health Department released information about COVID-19 vaccinations and sent emails inviting you to schedule appointments for initial educator clinics being held this Saturday and Monday. I want you to know that we are aware of the technology issues they encountered with the appointment process. I am also aware that some staff may not have received one or both of the emails that were sent by the Health Department. All Arlington Public Schools employee information was provided to the Public Health Department in advance of this process.
I share in the frustration many of you are experiencing and have conveyed that to the Public Health Department as they work to address this issue. We have offered assistance to the Health Department to resolve this issue swiftly. You can expect additional next steps from the Health Department as they work through the system and ensure that all staff are able to make an appointment and get the vaccine.
If you do not receive a confirmed appointment on one of these two initial dates, you will have other opportunities to make appointments soon. There are additional events being planned soon to meet the high demand.
I am with you in this process and will continue to follow up to ensure it gets resolved.
Dr. Francisco Durán
Superintendent
Despite the problems, Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia said vaccinations “will begin this weekend.” (Neighboring Fairfax County is also planning to begin vaccinations for school staff this weekend.)
Some staff members who are already back in schools and working with students have voiced complaints about not being first in line to receive the vaccines. Bellavia said no APS employees are being given priority over others.
“Arlington Public Schools has a significant portion of positions that interface with students from food service to bus drivers to assistants to teachers,” he said. “All employees are provided the same priority since the majority of our employees are school-based and work directly with students.”
(Updated at 11:45 a.m.) Arlington County Board members are asking why vaccinations are not going faster, amid a pace that would take more than two years to dose the county’s adult population.
This past weekend the county got the go-ahead from the state to start vaccinating those in the Phase 1b priority group. But questions remain about how exactly the county will push forward and why less than 2% of the county’s adult population has received a vaccine dose so far, one month after the first vaccine was authorized for use.
Arlington County public health director Reuben Varghese told the County Board yesterday afternoon that, while the county is looking to vaccinate 1,200 people a week, it has yet to hit that number.
The reason, he said, is that the county is still establishing infrastructure to do it. It’s a tough task since considerable space is needed due to social distancing, he said, but the health department is trying to rectify that.
Arlington Public Schools has agreed to allow use of an auditorium at the Syphax Education Center on Washington Blvd. There, Varghese says, they’ll be able to have up to 19 vaccinators and vaccinate residents every two to five minutes.
More large spaces are being discussed, including working with more pharmacies and setting up vaccination stations in community centers. There’s also thought of opening a weekend clinic, particularly to vaccinate childcare workers and teachers.
“Obviously, I’d love the Pentagon parking lot, but that’s probably not going to happen,” says Varghese.
It’s a balancing act or an “art,” he said, between public demand, getting doses from the state, and having the ability to actually vaccinate.
County Board member Takis Karantonis said he heard from a number of eligible residents that they have registered, but are getting mid to late February vaccination dates.
Varghese responded that this made sense. In order to get more doses from the state, the county needs to show the state their the ability to vaccinate matches the number of doses being provided.
“The state is trying to make sure we are not hoarding vaccine,” he said.
Going forward, Varghese says he’s trying to make vaccinating more efficient and lower the administrative burden. This includes perhaps not delineating between and consolidating certain subsections and phases. Virginia’s Phase 1c, for instance includes older residents, those with certain health conditions, and 12 separate categories of essential workers, including lawyers and bankers.
The next groups set to be vaccinated are food and agriculture workers, grocery store employees, mail carriers, public transit workers, and county officials. But the federal government is advocating to start vaccinating individuals over 65 and those with chronic medical conditions now. Those folks are technically in Phase 1c.
Varghese agreed with the federal recommendations.
“When you start looking at who falls into all of these categories in Phase 1c, there’s a lot of individual overlap with the general public,” he said. “My personal observation is that we just ask ‘who’s interested?’ and move forward with the general public. The advantage of that is you don’t have to send out lists or figure out organizations. You can just… ask for all-comers.”
At a time when health department staff is stretched thin and overworked, it would be helpful to simplify the process. Even with changes, however, widespread vaccine distribution may still be months away.
As of Wednesday morning, 3,653 vaccine doses had been administered in Arlington, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. With an average vaccination rate of just over 225 doses per day over the past week, it would take the 843 days to administer a dose to the remainder of Arlington’s adult population.
