Vaccine Use In Virginia: How Many Shots Have Been Given?

VIRGINIA — As millions of Americans wait for their turn to receive a coronavirus vaccine and the nation’s leaders vow to ramp up distribution, states have differed in how much of their supply has been used so far.

In Virginia, 1,370,975 vaccine doses have been distributed, and 922,940 have been administered, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is updated daily before 8 p.m. Eastern Time. In the Old Dominion, 757,554 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 138,321 people have received both doses, according to the CDC.

That’s 10,813 per every 100,000 Virginia residents. All four metrics have per 100,000 numbers.

The country’s vaccination effort topped 50 million administered doses this week, as the Biden administration has said it will begin delivering vaccines directly to the nation’s most well-known pharmacy retailers. Beginning Feb. 11, the White House will deliver 1 million doses of vaccine per week to 6,500 retailers such as CVS and Walgreens, according to reports from Politico and others.

SEE ALSO: CVS Plans To Offer Vaccine Appointments At Select Virginia Stores

The increased vaccine distribution will be focused on areas that need it the most, said Jeff Zients, the head of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus team. Pharmacy sites have been selected based on their abilities “to reach some of the populations at risk for severe illness from COVID-19,” Zients said.

“This will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities,” he added. “This is a critical step to provide the public with convenient, trusted places to get vaccinated in their communities."

The vaccines sent to pharmacies will be in addition to the roughly 10.5 million doses sent to the states every week, according to reports. The 10.5 million is up by about 500,000 from previous weeks, The Associated Press has reported.

As of Wednesday, 55.9 million vaccine doses had been distributed in the country, with 33.8 million people receiving at least one dose. About 27.1 million have taken the first dose, and more than 6.4 million have received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.

Only eight states and the District of Columbia have administered more than 11,000 doses per 100,000 residents as of Tuesday, the CDC said. North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Connecticut, West Virginia, New Mexico and Oklahoma are the states joining D.C. in reaching that threshold.

Nationally, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been given about 18.2 million times and the Moderna vaccine about 15.5 million times.

On Thursday, 3,059 new cases were reported, including 730 in Northern Virginia. Virginia's seven-day case average of 3,246 daily cases is still well above any case average before November. A notable increase in cases began in mid-November and started to take a downturn in the second half of January. The highest daily case counts so far in the pandemic have been 9,914 on Jan. 17, 7,245 on Jan. 18, 6,757 on Jan. 16 and 6,172 on Jan. 25.

Current COVID-19 hospitalizations declined from 2,540 to 2,444 on Thursday, continuing the average downward trend beginning on Jan. 19. There are 486 COVID-19 patients in the intensive care units and 294 on ventilators. Northern Virginia has 447 total COVID-19 patients.

The state's 2,473 COVID-19 patients represent 18 percent of the 13,295 hospital beds occupied in Virginia. Virginia has 16,476 staffed hospital beds total. According to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, ICU occupancy among all hospital patients is at 81 percent, and ventilator use is at 35 percent.

The positive average of PCR tests continues to decline since taking a downturn in early January. The latest statewide average is 11 percent as of Jan. 31. Northern Virginia's average is 9.4 percent. The state's seven-day average of total testing encounters is 27,582, down from a peak of 34,695 on Jan. 14. Northern Virginia's positive average is 9.4 percent, back in single digits after rising above 10 percent in late November.

The state is averaging 28,169 daily PCR testing encounters, which is down from a peak of 34,694 on Jan. 14. Northern Virginia has an average of 7,225 daily testing encounters.

There were 75 new COVID-19 deaths reported statewide Thursday. Since the start of the pandemic, 6,650 people in Virginia have been attributed to COVID-19.

Below are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Tuesday to Wednesday:

• Alexandria: 9,574 cases, 491 hospitalizations, 105 deaths; increase of 30 cases, one hospitalization, and one death
• Arlington County: 11,928 cases, 736 hospitalizations, 204 deaths; increase of 61 cases, one hospitalization, and one death
• Fairfax County: 60,495 cases, 3,293 hospitalizations, 798 deaths; increase of 230 cases, five hospitalizations and six deaths
• Fairfax City: 440 cases, 31 hospitalizations and 12 deaths; increase of three cases
• Falls Church: 301 cases, 19 hospitalizations, seven deaths; increase of five cases
• Loudoun County: 21,015 cases, 782 hospitalizations, 184 deaths; increase of 173 cases and three hospitalizations
• Manassas: 3,758 cases, 155 hospitalizations, 33 deaths; increase of five cases
• Manassas Park: 1,076 cases, 66 hospitalizations, eight deaths; increase of three cases
• Prince William County: 35,862 cases, 1,329 hospitalizations, 321 deaths; increase of 169 cases, six hospitalizations and four deaths
• Fredericksburg: 1,569 cases, 74 hospitalizations, 14 deaths; increase of three cases
• Spotsylvania County: 7,380 cases, 243 hospitalizations, 84 deaths; increase of 58 cases and one death
• Stafford County: 8,183 cases, 277 hospitalizations, 50 deaths; increase of 60 cases and two hospitalizations