VA PUBLICALLY RELEASES STATISTICS OF COVID-19 VACCINATIONS AT VA SITES

By: Gurkamal Dadra, Legislative Intern ​

On February 2nd 2021 The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) publicly released information regarding vaccination of the Moderna and Pfiser-BioNTech Vaccines at their facilities. 

Before this the VA would only report the total number of Vaccines it had given to employees and veterans. Now on their website we can see the breakdown of where the vaccines are distributed and to whom. As of February 2nd the VA has given at least one dose to 582,000 Veterans, and 44,000 have been fully vaccinated, resulting in a total of more than 626,000 doses to Veterans. In addition to this they have given over 401,000 doses to VA employees, and more than 1,200 doses to Federal Partners. 

Based on their numbers the VA has given, as of February 2nd, the most amount of Doses at their facilities based in Orlando Florida, with over 17,000 Veterans having received their first dose, and over 5,000 being fully vaccinated . However we also see the shortcomings as well, with facilities in Spokane and Iowa City both not vaccinating any veterans. 

As of now the VA says that they are “in the limited supply phase”, suggesting that they do not have enough doses at the moment even for those veterans who do qualify for a vaccine, but they anticipate more vaccines to come in starting March. Unfortunately until then the VA says there will be some sites which will run out of doses for short periods of time. 
​
The VA is reaching out to Veterans who are eligible for vaccination. Veterans who would like additional information can visit the VA COVID-19 vaccines webpage, visit their local facility’s website, or contact their care team.

​