NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 28, 2021

Neighbors, 

On Tuesday, the House of Delegates unanimously passed House Bill 2333 to ensure that Virginia has the infrastructure to quickly administer COVID-19 vaccines when more are made available to us by the federal government. 

This bill breaks down barriers for healthcare professionals to be able to provide vaccinations. It establishes processes to set up more community vaccination sites. Lastly, it requires the Department of Health to collect additional data to ensure vaccines are being administered on an equitable basis. I co-sponsored this bill, and urge my state Senate colleagues to pass it.

Below you can find more updates on Virginia’s COVID-19 vaccination effort and a reminder of my upcoming Virtual Town Hall. 

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or need assistance. You can reach me by email at DelKTran@house.virginia.gov or call my office at 804-698-1042.

Best, Kathy

Delegate, 42nd District 

VIRTUAL TOWN HALL ON 1/30 AT 1pm

  • On Saturday, January 30 at 1pm, I will be having a Virtual Town Hall.

  • Hear updates from me,  Senators George Barker and Scott Surovell, and our special guest, Dr. Danny Avula, Virginia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Coordinator!

  • Please use the following link to join the virtual town hall: https://bit.ly/SouthCountyTownHall2021

  • Federal Allocation of Vaccines to Virginia 

  • Virginia is receiving 105,000 vaccine doses weekly from the federal government. We expect to receive this amount for the foreseeable future. Once additional vaccines are available from the federal government, Governor Northam indicated that each state’s allocation will increase by about 16%. 

  • Also, the federal government will now provide states with information a month in advance about the amount of vaccines they will receive. This is critical data that will help the Department of Health plan how to allocate and administer first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

State Guidelines on Vaccine Distribution for Localities

  • The Virginia Department of Health recommends that local health districts dedicate half of their vaccine supply to providing vaccines to people ages 65 and older and to use the remaining half to provide vaccines for frontline essential workers in priority, people ages 16-64 with high risk medical conditions or disabilities, people in correctional facilities, people in homeless shelters, and people in migrant labor camps. 

  • Information on 1a and 1b essential worker prioritization is available here. 

Updated State COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard

  • The Department of Health launched a new COVID-19 vaccine dashboard that provides more data on Virginia’s COVID-19 vaccine supply. As I mentioned, I have made several recommendations to the Governor’s COVID-19 team about increasing data transparency, and I am pleased to see many of my suggestions have been included in the new dashboard. 

  • This data will help all of us understand how many vaccines have been allocated to Virginia, to local health districts, to the federal contract with CVS and Walgreens, as well as how many have been administered and by what type of entity. This information is important to helping us pinpoint areas in the vaccination distribution system that have lags. You can view the updated vaccination dashboard here. 

  • Governor Northam has directed the Virginia Department of Health to make available more data on race and ethnicity to ensure the vaccines are being distributed in an equitable manner. Dr. Norman Oliver, the state health commissioner, has written to every clinician in Virginia to collect this data for people receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.