Kanawha County received its first COVID-19 vaccine doses, from Pfizer, on December 15, 2020. The first shots went to front-line workers, and 20 to 30 people were vaccinated that day.
Staff of the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority (KCEAA) were among the first offered the vaccine. The ambulance authority’s director later said its employees were offered the vaccine in mid-December 2020, when the first shots arrived in the county. The ambulance authority’s deputy director and chief of medical services helped give the shot to the first Kanawha County resident vaccinated that month.
Under Phase 1 of the state’s vaccine plan, the county health department then held walk-in clinics for first responders. A clinic on Tuesday, December 29, ran from 2 to 7 p.m. Another on Wednesday, December 30, ran from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the health department, 108 Lee Street East, Charleston. Law enforcement officers, state troopers, natural resources police, EMS workers and other first responders could attend. The general public could not yet get the vaccine because supply was limited.
The ambulance authority went on to run the large 2021 vaccine clinics with the health department. By November 2021, 85 percent of the agency’s 233 employees were vaccinated.
See COVID-19 vaccination clinic for first responders Tuesday afternoon and COVID-19 vaccines for first responders continue Wednesday.
This information is from December 2020. It is kept here as a record and is not current advice. Check current guidance from the CDC or your doctor.
Sources
- WV MetroNews: Ohio, Kanawha county health leaders reflect on pandemic one year after receiving vaccine shipments (December 26, 2021)
- WV MetroNews: Kanawha County pandemic leader credits teamwork as county marks no new cases of virus (July 2, 2021)
- WCHS-TV: Additional COVID-19 vaccination clinic to be held in Kanawha for first responders (December 29, 2020)
- Charleston Gazette-Mail: Ambulance authority implements vaccine mandate (November 12, 2021)