FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (WOAY) – James Bennett has been administering COVID-19 vaccines with the Fayette County Health Department since January.
With the announcement that all American adults are eligible to be vaccinated by April 19th, he says the supply within the county should continue to increase.
“There’s definitely a lot more coming,” Bennett said. “Weekly, we’re getting many vaccines. It’s just great to see that so many people will be able to be vaccinated.”
Although all adults nationwide can receive a vaccine in two weeks, West Virginia has already been distributing vaccines to those 16 and older. Bennett feels that there won’t be a huge impact on the state’s procedures.
“In West Virginia, it’s here,” Bennett said. “We’ve been fortunate we’ve been able to vaccinate who wanted to be vaccinated.”
The nation is in the midst of a spike in COVID-19 cases. Bennett says that a greater impact of the new eligibility date could be felt in other states, where available shots have been harder to come by.
“I think it’ll help more along the lines of other states,” Bennett said. “Neighboring states, I’ve heard people having trouble getting vaccinated.”
Bennett says that the new deadline is important ahead of summer. The warm weather months lead to large gatherings.. Continuing to increase vaccinations in the United States will only make summer events more likely.
“The face that we’re doing between 3.5-4 million vaccines a day in the United States makes that number possible,” Bennett said.
