Monongalia County Health Department reacts to covid vaccine anniversary

MORGANTOWN, W.Va (WDTV) - Governor Justice commemorated the one-year anniversary Tuesday of the arrival of the Pfizer covid vaccine in West Virginia.

“In the state of West Virginia, we have given shots to 2.2 million doses to a population of 1.8 million,” said Governor Jim Justice.

Monongalia county was one of the first to get the vaccines.

“It has been a very busy year,” said Jamie Moore, program manager at the Monongalia County Health Department.

Moore says the county stands at about 53 percent fully vaccinated.

“The vaccine was in limited supply initially and so we had to set up our clients appropriately. That’s not a problem now,” said Moore.

State coronavirus czar Dr. Clay marsh says the potency of the vaccines reduces after about 6 months after the second dose.

Dr. Marsh says it’s important to get the booster because it’s only a matter of time until the new variant comes into west Virginia.

“....the omicron variant which right now is in over half of the states in our country and will absolutely be seen in West Virginia as well”

Moore says the health department is continuing to provide opportunities for booster shots.

“We’ve done a lot of good but we still got a lot of good to do.”

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