CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two days before Easter, Governor Jim Justice said West Virginia had reached a milestone in the coronavirus pandemic when more than 500,000 citizens received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine.
From Friday morning Information from the State Department of Health and Human Resources 342,851 West Virgins had received all required doses of administered coronavirus vaccines.
Dr. Clay Marsh
Dr. Clay Marsh, vice president and executive dean of health sciences at West Virginia University and a leader in responding to state coronavirus, said further increasing that number is critical to blocking virus variants.
“The way we keep these variants from spreading and infecting more people is by making more of us immune,” he said.
Next week, Dr. Marsh announced that additional information would be published on the current “amount” of variant transfer in West Virginia.
He was particularly concerned about the variant first identified in the UK in early April.
“It’s very, very important that any West Virginian who is currently eligible to qualify for a COVID vaccine – if you are 16 years of age or older – should absolutely make a decision to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Marsh.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were released on Friday new travel guidelines.
The CDC said Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus could travel “at low risk to themselves” both domestically and internationally, but should continue to follow the COVID protocols on wearing masks in public, social distancing and continue to wash your hands.
The test requirements were set by individual countries.
People who were fully vaccinated were required to have negative coronavirus tests before boarding flights to the United States with follow-up tests three or five days later.
However, quarantines would no longer be required.
A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or two weeks after receiving the single Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
The new CDC travel guidelines did not apply to people who were not vaccinated.
The recommendations against travel continued for these people.
“Vaccination gives you better immunity than just recovery from native COVID infection,” said Dr. Marsh. “The combination of native COVID infection and vaccination gives you the greatest immunity.”
