COVID-19 vaccinations resume at Virginia Beach Convention Center

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Health officials are continuing to administer COVID-19 vaccines at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

The convention center was chosen as the city’s primary COVID-19 vaccination site. Last week, health officials began administering vaccinations to members of group 1a which are front-line healthcare workers, emergency workers and residents of long-term care facilities.

Local nurse Pam Trompeter received her vaccine Tuesday. She’s also volunteering her time to vaccinate others.

“I do it to make a difference,” said Trompeter. “The world is in a crazy situation right now and I just want to help out in any way I can.” 

As vaccinations resumed Tuesday, more members were added to the list, including some public and private school staff.

Shamine Williams, a teacher at Cape Henry School in Virginia Beach, got her shot Tuesday.

“It feels fantastic to get the vaccine. It’s a relief. It does put my mind at great ease,” said Williams. “I’m an educator, I work with children all day and with me being safe, I can make sure they’re safe.” 

There has been some confusion as to what teachers — public versus private — would get vaccines first.

Bob Engle, the emergency coordinator for the Virginia Beach Department of Public Health, cleared up the confusion.

“Between the public and private schools, there has been no difference, no priority given to either.”

Engle explained the private school list was uploaded to the system a day before the public school list, which likely resulted in the perception that private school staff members were ahead of public school staff.

According to Engle, each individual school, public and private, sent in their list of first-priority people. Those people have started to receive appointments. Engle says so far, 4,000 public school personnel and 500 private school personnel were added to the list.

Those expecting an appointment will go through an initial screening, a temperature check, and some questions regarding whether the resident has had symptoms or has been exposed to a positive COVID-19 case.

Officials tell 10 On Your Side’s Kayla Gaskins that the site is operating using volunteers for the most part.

Health officials are hoping to move on to group 1b next week, which includes residents over the age of 65, ages 16 to 64 with an underlying medical condition, and people living in correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and migrant labor camps.

Engle says phase 1b is about 120,000 people and is expected to take two months to complete.

As efforts expand, Engle says they’ll give out 5,000 shots a day at the convention center.