Roach Hopeful More Residents Will Take Vaccine With Pfizer Fully FDA Approved

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration officially gave full approval to the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 on Monday and acting Gov. Tregenza Roach hopes that this will help residents make the decision to get vaccinated.

Speaking at the V.I. Government House weekly COVID-19 press briefing on Tuesday, Roach said, “This is certainly a welcome development in our continued fight against the spread of this virus and news that I hope will be the deciding factor for many Virgin Islanders who are still on the fence about taking the vaccine.”

The vaccine previously had emergency use approval, after all the early studies showed it to be safe and effective. It had undergone three of four phases of study and testing. Now it has gone through the fourth phase, with more follow-up on more patients to determine effectiveness and safety.

Pfizer is the first COVID-19 vaccine to achieve full approval from the FDA. “For those persons who are hesitant to take the vaccine, we hope that this approval will give you additional assurance to get the vaccine,” said Roach. There has also been an uptick in vaccine counts over the last week. Territorial Epidemiologist Dr. Esther Ellis said 64,905 doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been administered as of Tuesday, while 26,139 doses of the Moderna vaccine had been administered.

Roach provided the weekly COVID-19 press updates because Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. is in Washington, D.C., lobbying for greater inclusion in the federal Infrastructure Bill along with Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett, the governor’s Chief of Staff Karl Knight said in the comments section during the press briefing carried on Facebook Live.

“I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the nine Virgin Islanders who have died from COVID-19 since our last update, last week Monday,” said Roach. “The passing of these nine Virgin Islanders is a solemn reminder that we are still in the vice-grip of this pandemic, and we must continue to take every precaution to keep ourselves and one another safe.”

On Monday, Aug. 16, there had been 41 COVID-19 fatalities. Monday, Aug. 23, the death count was at 50 and as of the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 26, the death count was up to 51. “We are seeing decreased hospitalizations, but increased deaths and many of our hospitalized patients are ventilated. This shows how dire the situation is,” said Ellis on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, there were 261 active cases of COVID-19 in the territory – 81 on St. Croix, 163 on St. Thomas and 17 on St. John and the territory’s positivity rate is at 4.54 percent. There were 24 patients hospitalized – nine at the Juan F. Luis Hospital on St. Croix, with five of them on ventilators, and 15 patients at the Schneider Regional Medical Center on St. Thomas, with two patients ventilated. “Of the 24 patients hospitalized, none are fully vaccinated,” said Ellis. The most recent death was a 53-year-old woman on St. Thomas.

As of Tuesday, 49,919 individuals in the U.S. Virgin Islands had received at least one dose of the vaccine and 40,872 individuals were fully vaccinated. “There is no need to wait a certain amount of days to get the vaccine after recovering [from COVID] on your own. Those who have had monoclonal antibody treatments can get the vaccine 90 days after receiving the treatment,” said Ellis.

Ellis said that the Department of Health will alert the public once federal approval from the FDA and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issued for booster shots. So far there have been reports that the booster shot will be approved for immuno-compromised individuals and limited to the Pfizer vaccine only for now.