West Virginia Governor Says State “Diamond in the Rough” for Successful Vaccine Distribution



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Washington – As states work to speed up the pace of COVID-19 vaccine administration and improve the difficult flow of injections, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice praised his state for its successful distribution of vaccines, calling it the “rough diamond”.

“Right now we’re at 98.1%, when it comes to vaccines on people’s arms or the names related to that, you know, that’s going to be put on people’s arms immediately,” Justice said. , a Republican, to “Face the Nation”. in an interview on Sunday. “We’re saving all kinds of lives. We’re getting our kids back to school. West Virginia has been the rough diamond that many people have missed.”

Since the coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna were first shipped to the states in December, West Virginia has emerged as a leader in vaccine distribution. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 205,000 doses of the vaccine have been distributed and more than 134,000 doses have been administered in the state.

Justice said West Virginia’s success was because “we’re practical people with a lot of really smart people here to make it happen.”

“A lot of governors sat with their arms folded trying to come up with a system or a formula for what they were going to do. We didn’t just sit back. I mean, we took action,” he said. said. “We brought our local pharmacies. We brought in our local health services, you know. We brought our National Guard and we started putting injections in people’s arms, because this stuff is about age, age, age.

Unlike other states, West Virginia has refused to participate in a federal program whereby CVS and Walgreens administered vaccines to residents and staff of long-term care facilities and instead relied on local pharmacies for deliver vaccines. It went on to become the first state in the country to complete offering the vaccines to all nursing facilities, doing so before the end of 2020.

Justice said he decided to reject the federal partnership program because “there are so many people who depend on their local health services, their local pharmacies.”

“If we’re going to create a bureaucracy with the guidelines of the federal government and everything, when we know it’s age, age, and age, we’ve got to get gunshots in people’s arms. , and every day we get hit with it. in someone’s arm, we save a life, ”he says.

Nationwide, 31.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine were distributed and 12.2 million doses administered. More than 10.5 million people have received at least one dose of the injections, according to the CDC.

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