The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced on Monday that they are now including vaccine data to the COVID-19 Daily Dashboard on two new tabs, Vaccine Summary and Vaccine Demographics. This new information is intended to keep the public informed about the numbers of COVID-19 vaccines distributed and administered in Virginia. It will be updated daily.
“We are providing this information because there is a lot of interest in COVID-19 vaccine,” said State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver. “In this initial phase, our VDH teams are working with healthcare systems to get vaccines to healthcare personnel and with CVS and Walgreens to vaccinate long-term care residents and staff. As the supply of COVID-19 vaccine gradually increases, it will continue to be offered to additional groups.”
While vaccines are a major step to ending the pandemic, it will take months to vaccinate everyone who wants to be vaccinated. Virginians should continue with other strategies that are helping stop the spread of the virus – wear a face mask, physical distance, wash hands often, and limit the size of social gatherings.
The currently available COVID-19 vaccines require two doses, given three or four weeks apart, depending on which vaccine is received. Both doses are needed to prevent or reduce the severity of illness from COVID-19. Individuals should receive the same type of vaccine for both doses. Information entered into the Virginia Immunization Information System (VIIS) will allow providers to know when to give the second dose to an individual and which type of vaccine to give. Providers can also use information in VIIS to give individuals proof of their COVID-19 vaccination.
The goal of VIIS is to support patients and their healthcare providers in making health decisions by providing reliable, easy-to-access information about a patient’s immunization history. It only contains information about immunizations and does not contain any other medical history about individuals.
The number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered that is displayed on this dashboard will always lag behind the actual number of doses administered. The data on administered vaccines comes from VIIS. Providers across the Commonwealth, who administer the vaccine to individuals, enter that information into VIIS.
For more information about COVID-19 vaccination in Virginia, visit: www.vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine.
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