novel-coronavirus

Greene County has started slowing down on the numbers of people getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

Public Health Director Becky Wolf says as of Friday, about 45-percent of the population are fully vaccinated. Of that 45-percent, about 84-percent of those 65 and older are fully vaccinated, whereas only 15-percent of those 12-18-years-old are vaccinated. Wolf points out they are also trying to reach those who don’t have equal access to healthcare.

“We call that health inequity. That would be people that don’t have insurance, obviously you don’t have to pay for the vaccine; people that are homeless obviously the children, and then our Hispanic population.”

Wolf believes that some of the reasons why vaccination numbers have leveled off is due to the low positivity rate, which was 0.9-percent this past Friday, where it had been zero-percent since May 28th; masking guidelines changing and more things are opening up.

“I feel like probably, a lot of that is that people, they want to move on, they want to move on with their lives, they don’t want to have to think about COVID anymore. Would I like to see these be higher in some of these groups? Absolutely, especially the kids. Were still wanting people to get vaccinated, we still have people come in to get vaccinated.”

There are three federal Food and Drug Administration emergency use approved vaccines, including Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. Wolf adds, several providers have vaccines on hand and several are now accepting walk-ins. Contact Greene County Public Health to learn more about where to get a vaccine.