Northam sets 50K daily goal for vaccinations

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam held his first coronavirus briefing in nearly a month on Wednesday afternoon, naming a head new head of the commonwealth’s vaccine effort, which has started off slowly. Northam did not announce any new coronavirus restrictions.

Northam said he plans to activate the National Guard when enough daily doses are being administered to warrant it.

Virginia has been averaging nearly 5,000 new coronavirus cases per day and COVID-19 hospitalizations are at an all-time high.

Virginia’s short-term goal for vaccinations is 25,000 a day, Gov. Northam says. Currently Virginia’s averaging thousands less per day (about 14,000).

Data shows Virginia is currently among the states that have vaccinated the fewest percentage of residents when factoring available doses, although officials expect the pace of vaccinations to pick up in the coming weeks.

.