When it comes to vaccine rollout, West Virginia has been a diamond in the rough.
At least, that’s how Gov. Jim Justice describes it. The tiny state, home to less than 2 million people, has been leading the country in vaccinations, despite rejecting a federal partnership with big-name pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens.
“We didn’t sit on our hands,” Justice said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. “I mean, we acted. We brought our local pharmacies in. We brought our local health departments in. We brought our National Guard in. And we started putting shots in people’s arms.”
By the end of December, West Virginia, one of the country’s most rural and poorest states, gave almost all of its 28,000 nursing home facility staff and residents their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine; a stark accomplishment, given that only 429,000 doses were administered to long-term care facilities nationwide.
At least 7.5% of its population has already received the first of two coronavirus shots, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The state has achieved this through the help of its mom-and-pop pharmacies, many of which across the country have been on the brink of closure as they struggle to adjust to the demands of the pandemic. About 45% of pharmacies in West Virginia are independently owned.
In the Mountain State, more than 250 local pharmacists set up clinics in rural communities. The closeness of customer relationships to retailers have also eased the hesitations some might have with taking the vaccine.
“As my uncle always told me, these people aren’t your customers, they’re your friends and neighbors,” said Ric Griffith, a pharmacist at Griffith & Feil in Kenova, near the border of Kentucky.
State officials have also credited its use of the National Guard to oversee shipments of vaccine doses have also helped its distribution. From the 50-person command center in Charleston, deliveries move to drugstores and local health departments. The West Virginia Board of Pharmacy opened the state distribution plan to all pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens, but only Walgreens participated.
If the state had been on board with the federal partnership that involved both companies, some officials argue that Washington would’ve had too much influence over their state, and they wouldn’t have been able to achieve the results they have.
“If the state would’ve activated the federal plan, the state would’ve had zero control over the situation,” said Marty Wright, head of the West Virginia Health Care Association, which represents healthcare companies.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar took notice of West Virginia’s efforts to vaccinate the elderly early, praising its efforts at an Operation Warp Speed meeting last week.
The governor chalked up the strategy to common sense and credited the state’s efforts to “practical-thinking” leaders.
“Everything when we know this is about age, age, and age, we’ve got to get shots in people’s arms,” Justice said. “And every day we put a shot in somebody’s arm, we’re saving a life. We need to get at it. That’s all there is to it.”
West Virginia has had over 109,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 1,700 deaths attributed to the virus. Nationwide, more than 24 million people have been infected by the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 400,000 people across the United States.
