With 2,800 West Virginian lives now lost due to COVID-19, Gov. Jim Justice continues the effort to get all residents vaccinated.
During his Wednesday, April 21, press conference, Justice announced that 687,045 West Virginians have received the first dose of a Coronavirus vaccine and 520,206 have received their second dose. A total of 1,179,328 vaccines have been administered.
However, it has been rumored that at least 40% of residents have announced they will not get a vaccine at all. If this number is correct, Justice said that is concerning.
After some quick math, Justice declared that he will call his next focus on beating the pandemic Beat 588,000 Bad. This is the number of residents who will need to be vaccinated in order to cross that 40% no vaccination hurdle, Justice explained.
According to Justice, when the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was paused, it caused a lot of people to be scared. But he added that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are still available to those aged 16 and above, and have not been found to be unsafe.
“You have got to really trust all these people who are really, really on their game,” Justice said. “You have got to trust us.”
James Hoyer, director of the Joint Interagency Task Force, stated that West Virginia has “hit a vaccine hesitancy point that we need to get past.”
He added that more West Virginians need to get on board and get vaccinated.
Coronavirus Czar, Dr. Clay Marsh, stated that there are 402 active cases of the UK variant in West Virginia and one Brazilian variant case.
“In Brazil, over half of the patients in the ICU are under 30,” Marsh said, speaking of the Brazilian variant.
For this reason, younger people should continue to get their vaccines, Marsh continued.
Additionally, Justice stated that the mask order is still in place, and will be until he receives guidance from the CDC and other health experts.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.