RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia officials said Friday that the state expects to meet or possibly exceed President Joe Biden’s commitment to make all adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccines by May 1.
“As we look at the supply and the pace and the demand here in Virginia we really think we will easily meet that May 1 marker and potentially even outpace it by a couple of weeks,” state vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula said in a briefing with reporters.
Avula also said the May 1 goal won’t require the state to rethink its distribution strategy.
“It hasn’t changed anything for us,” he said.
The state has administered over 2.5 million doses of vaccine, with 19.5% of the population having received at least one dose, according to health department data.
All parts of the state have opened up vaccine eligibility to a second phase of people that includes frontline essential workers and people 16-64 with an underlying medical condition.
Avula said he thinks that second phase, referred to as 1b, can be completed by mid-April, or sooner in some parts of the state. Health districts would then move into a third phase of eligibility that will cover other essential workers at their own pace, he said.
Jeffrey Zients, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator, told reporters Friday that May 1 is an “absolute deadline” and that the nation will have enough supply between the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines to give shots to all adults by the end of that month.
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