MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Multiple agencies in Mon County have combined efforts to mobilize a mass COVID vaccine clinic at the Morgantown Mall. The partnership includes WVU Medicine, Mon Health Systems, the Mon County Health Department and members of the Mon County Commission.
WVU Medicine president and CEO Albert Wright believes the coalition will effectively and orderly manage the vaccine and wait lists, hopefully quelling the pandemic in the process.
“We realize the only way we’re going to get out of COVID is to vaccinate our way out of COVID,” Wright said,” So, we started to put significant infrastructure in place to get large scale patients through here.”
Studies done worldwide show hospitalization and deaths drop steadily as more members of a population receive the vaccine. Officials believe this “super clinic” will have the capacity to vaccinate up to 4,000 people per day as supplies become available.
“If we vaccinate slowly we’ll vaccinate our way out of this by 2022,” Wright said,” If we can get more and more people in early we’ll have vaccinate our way out of this by April or May and I would rather have the later.”
Mon Health Systems president and CEO, David Goldberg said his organization was glad to join the effort and that competition in the marketplace stops when the health of the public is at stake.
“We look forward to seeing a lot of people here, so we can bend the curve and vaccinate our way out of this,” Goldberg said,” To be able to drive what we know has been the worst situation we’ve seen in 100-years to a brighter day.”
According to the Director of the Joint Agency Task Force, Jim Hoyer the state is supposed to receive 23,600 each week. Production levels have limited the amount received in the state.
“Governor Justice has got all of us pressing each entity within the federal government to make sure they full understand as vaccines come off the line West Virginia is a place that will get them in arms quickly.”
Later this spring, the Johnson & Johnson version of the vaccine is expected to get emergency authorization approval. While a vaccine will be welcome it will not likely meet soaring demand.
“It remains to be seen what Johnson & Johnson will do in the way of production numbers,” Hoyer said,” But, the benefit is that it is one shot and that will change things for us logistically.”