Conover said they have seen more people over the last couple weeks get the vaccine because they wanted to travel or go to an event.
“That is OK. If that is your reason to get the vaccine, then we’ll take it,” she said. “There are still hundreds of people getting vaccinated in Clark County every week... we’re happy about that. Every body’s going to come to this in a different way, they’re going to come to the decision in a different way, and we want to be there when that person’s ready to make the decision to become vaccinated.”
Springfield’s NAACP President Denise Williams said at this week’s coronavirus update that she continues to urge the African American community to get vaccinated as only 32.9% have had at least one dose.
“We still need to do more. This is not a really good percentage for the Black community and we really need to do more. The NAACP is thinking about what we can do to bring out more of the community,” she said.
There are several opportunities for those in the community to get vaccinated this weekend and coming week, including at Springfield’s Pride Parade today.
“We have pretty aggressively tried to be convenient to people where they are in the last couple weeks and now that we’re going into next month, we’ve had to make some staffing changes and revisions, but there’s a couple consistent places that we’re going to try and be for people when they are ready to get the vaccine through the month of July,” Conover said.
The health district will continue at the home office five days a week, at Southern Village on Tuesdays and Fridays, at Circus Plaza on Tuesday afternoons, and at Enon on Wednesday evenings.
“One of the things we are concerned about is transportation, so we want to make people know to contact the health department if there’s transportation barriers because we want to figure that out. We have some different partners that can help us with that or on occasion too if there’s somebody who’s homebound, we want to know about that too because we’ll go ahead and do a homebound visit,” Conover said.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Williams also mentioned the advisory the CDC issued this week concerning the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines related to myocarditis in 1,200 patients.
Conover said the 1,200 patients may sound like a lot, but that only a small percentage of those vaccinated are experiencing myocarditis or pericarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle or inflammation of the lining around the heart.
“Either one of those are resolving very quickly. A lot of times it’s in younger patients and often times males. Be wary, and this would be after any kind of vaccine, just know what symptoms to look for, being knowledgeable about that and watchful about that, and knowing that so far, we’ve been fortunate the cases that have been identified have been resolved very easily... When comparing the risk of that to the risk of COVID, the safer option still seems to be the vaccine,” she said.
Conover said if you’re not ready to get vaccinated, you can go to the health district or clinic to talk to them about your concerns or questions.
Clark County had 14,248 cases and 306 deaths of the coronavirus as of Friday afternoon, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
As of Friday, 57,557 vaccination shots had been given in Clark County, according to ODH. Almost 43% of the county’s total population has received at least one shot. Just over 40% has been fully vaccinated.
Facts & Figures
14,248: Number of coronavirus cases as of Friday in Clark County
306: Number of coronavirus deaths as of Friday in Clark County
57,557: Number of vaccination shots given in Clark County
40: Percentage of Clark County residents who have been fully vaccinated
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