West Virginia isn’t known for its good health outcomes. It leads the nation in deaths from diabetes, accidents and drug overdoses. But when it comes to distributing the COVID-19 vaccine, the state has been a shining star.
It didn’t start out that way. In late December, on what was the day that Gov. Jim Justice announced West Virginians over the age of 80 would be able to receive doses of the vaccine from their county health departments, seniors began lining up right away — even before doses of the vaccine were available. Chris Dorst, a Charleston Gazette-Mail photographer for 30 years, was sent out by his editor to photograph the serpentine line of senior citizens she’d seen waiting outside the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, under the gray December sky.
“Some people had wheelchairs or walkers — elderly people, and maybe some family members with them in line, just waiting. It seemed to move really slow,” Dorst says.
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