Many atMercy reluctant for vaccine
Less than 50% of Mercy Health Springfield employees who are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine right now want it, according to the health system’s president.
At Monday’s Springfield Rotarymeeting, MercyHealth — Springfield PresidentAdam Groshans said there has been some “reluctance to take the vaccineinthehealthcarecommunity.”
GroshanssaidMercyHealth Springfield employee interest in the vaccine is around the “upper 40th percentile.” That’s almost identical to what officials at RockingHorseCommunityHealth Center said last week when they began their staff vaccinations. “One of the things we believeisafactorisyouhavea littlebitoftheguineapigmentality of, ‘Iwant to see howit goes for the first phase,’ and the other factor is the holidays. You had some folks who said, ‘I really don’t want to take it right before Christmas, right before the New Year’s break if I have a reaction,’ ” Groshans said.
Groshans saidwith the holiday nowover, MercyHealth is hoping to see the number of staff interested in the vaccine rise, officials also plan to communicatetheimportance of the vaccine to employees.
“We are alsocommunicatingwith our staffthat there is going to come a pointwhere this vaccine, if not needed andacceptedbyourstaff, will need to be reallocated elsewhere,” Groshans said. “So theymay not get the luxury of procrastination on that. That is one of those things thatwewill continue to echo becausewedohave folks that have voiced that they want to do it, that they intend to do it, but they just haven’t done it yet.”
On Wednesday, Mercy Health spokespersonNanette Bently said the health system has established a new “opt-inprocess” todetermine employee interest in receiving the vaccination.
“Aswithanynewprocess, it takes time toestablishawareness of it andwe are providing education on how and where to access the portal to be sure all of our employees tell us their preference,”
Bently said in a statement. “Eighty percent of employeeswho have visited the portal to access the process have opted in to have their vaccination.”
The lowinterest invaccine comesas thosewhowere the first vaccinated at Springfield Regional Medical Center will receive their second and final shots this week, Groshans said, making them among the first in the state to become fully vaccinated.
Springfield RegionalMedical Center was among the first 10 hospitals in Ohio to receive the first shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine onDec. 15. ThePfizervaccine, and the other COVID-19 vaccine on the marketmade by Moderna, require two doses roughly 20 days apart.
This week, Groshans said SRMCisexpectingtodomore than 600 vaccinations, with about100of thosebeing firstroundshotsandtherestbeing second.
“It certainly has been an exhaustive process but it has gone very well so far,” Groshans said.
Jennifer Kunkle, a cardiovascular ICU unit nursewho has worked at SRMC for the past 16 years, was the first SRMC employee to receive the vaccine in Clark County. Shereceivedherseconddose on Tuesday morning.
“It’s exciting. I feel very blessed to have been able to get this vaccination, especially as quickly as this hospital was able to give it to us,” Kunkle said.
Kunkle said she got the vaccine in hopes of being a good example for thecommunity and for her family. Now, she is asking other employees to step up and do the same.
“Read the research on it. It’s a good vaccine, it was made quickly but the documentationandthetechnology is not new, it’s been around since the late ’80’s. This is a wonderful new vaccination, yes, but we need more people to take it inorder for it to work,” Kunklesaid.“Iencourage everyone toget it and not let the opportunity pass.”
Clark County had 9,624 cases of the coronavirus as of Thursday afternoon, according to the Ohio Department of Health. The county has recored 244 deaths and 12 probable deaths, as ofThursday.