W.Va. to expand vaccination push as more residents expected to become eligible

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — Officials in West Virginia are finalizing plans to vaccinate as many as 78,000 residents ages 12-15 against the coronavirus.

Gov. Jim Justice described a multi-pronged approach Wednesday to overcoming vaccine hesitancy.

“For God’s sake, take the vaccine,” Justice said. “If you don’t want your senior year to suck -- and that’s what he said -- if you want that to happen, take the vaccine.”

With the state reporting a dozen virus-related deaths Wednesday, Justice described promoting efforts that include public service announcements by radio and TV stations, small-scale outreaches and finding nearly 1,000 people on the state registry who wanted the shot but somehow didn’t get it.

A big chunk may come from how many 12-15 year-olds get vaccinated after next week’s expected federal approval for younger residents.

“Now we are turning the telescope around and asking that our parents and grandparents really start to reach out and help our younger West Virginians choose to be vaccinated,” state coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh said.

With the average age of a person testing positive for COVID-19 down to 34, the push now is to get those 16-35 vaccinated, and 12-15 year-olds when they are approved. It’s proving to be a tougher sell than in some surrounding states -- a little more than 44% of West Virginia residents have had one shot as of Wednesday.

Justice said West Virginia is not experiencing a second shot problem.

“We actually have one of the best rates in the country of uptake of second shots,” West Virginia COVID Task Force leader James Hoyer said.

More than 36% of state residents are now fully vaccinated, but that also leaves a lot of West Virginians unprotected.

The governor said he hopes to provide a target percentage on Friday of people who need to be inoculated in order to drop the indoor mask mandate in public buildings.