CHARLESTON â About half of West Virginiaâs 43 public and private college campuses started vaccinating their employees against COVID-19 last week, according to a spokesperson for the stateâs higher education oversight agencies.
Spokesperson Jessica Tice wrote in an email that 1,000 doses were to be given across the colleges last week.
âThis was based on whether they were open, whether they had people who were eligible to be vaccinated who were available this week and whether they had at least 10 people who fit the criteria (doses come in vials of 10, and vials canât be separated),â Tice wrote.
The currently available vaccines require two doses, spaced apart, to reach their full effectiveness, so everyone vaccinated now will need to get another shot of the same companyâs vaccine later.
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College students in West Virginia will receive weekly coronavirus tests, according to a new plan announced Monday by Gov. Jim Justice.
It’s unclear when specifically the effort will begin other than sometime next year. Many students are already on winter break, as state health officials develop their plan.
According to data from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, young adults from 20 to 29 years old are testing positive for the coronavirus more than any other age group. However, they’re not the ones dying most often.
“For all practical purposes, the older people are the ones that are dying,” Justice said Monday. “The younger people may very well be running around carrying this like crazy and infecting our elderly, and we don t even know it.”