Governor, First Lady visit Allen County vaccination site
Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine and First Lady Fran stopped by the mass vaccination site in Lima on Friday.
"This is a great operation that you see here," Dewine said after touring the clinic and talking to volunteers, staff and patients. "Frankly, it's also inspiring to talk to the people who just got the shot."
He said Ohio is doing well with shot rollout, and estimated roughly 30 percent of the state has been vaccinated.
Dewine said the state is receiving 500,000 first doses weekly (up from 100,000/week when vaccinations were first made available), and described the current situation as a race between a new variant of COVID-19 prevalent in Northern Ohio.
"The vaccine really puts us on offense, he said. "Every time we get someone vaccinated in Ohio it's one more person in all likelihood that cannot get it and will not be a spreader."
Dewine described the distribution as going well, and said there are now over 1300 vaccination sites (not including mass-vaccine sites) state-wide, compared to an initial 700.
He believes Ohio will be able to meet President Joe Biden's goal of getting everyone who wants a shot vaccinated by May 1, and said the state is ahead of schedule.
"A lot of vaccine is going out every single day," he said. "Yesterday was close to 90,000 vaccines that went out in the state. That was just first doses."
He also announced a new initiative to offer vaccinations for college students at their campuses during the month.
"We made that decision because it's really an opportunity get a number of students together at one point in time," he said.
By providing a clinic in a place convenient for them, Dewine believes more students will want to get the shot. And by having it now as opposed to May - a time when students typically graduate or head home for the summer - he hopes to protect other communities.
He was also happy about the vaccine rollout so far, and said being able to be where the state is was a tribute to the volunteers, health departments and the Ohio National Guard.
"It's a real community effort every time you go to a vaccine site," he said.
Dewine said it was his goal to get back to some semblance of normal by summer.
Kathy Luhn, health commissioner for Allen County, described efforts for mass vaccination as very successful, and said so far they've received good feedback from the community.
The feeling is mutual.
"It's almost a shot in the arm for us as well," she said. "We've been doing this for a year, the staff's pretty fatigued. We feel that this is kind of that turning the corner."
She said infection rates were rising in Northern Ohio, and highlighted the importance of wearing a mask, maintaining social distance and getting a shot.
The difference between the new, large-scale clinics and smaller ones is the volunteers, assistance from the Ohio National Guard and the higher frequency of these.
"We're so pleased to have this clinic available," she said.
And while she'd like to do as many mass vaccinations as possible, clinic schedule is determined on a week-by-week basis.
"This week we were able to have four days of clinics, next week it's two days," she said.
Luhn said at their highest the clinic was able to administer 800 shots in a day, which is roughly double what hospitals, health departments and the Federal Qualified Health Center have received.
"Having that available in our community helps us reach that goal of getting more people vaccinated as efficiently as possible," she said.
She said they'll vaccinate 2,000 people at the Allen County site this week and another 2,000 next week.
According to Luhn, 65-70 percent of patients 65+ are vaccinated, and she noted the number of younger people taking advantage of new availability. She hopes to get over 70 percent of Allen County vaccinated.
Luhn was thankful for the community's support, and said the Allen County Health Department is still accepting volunteers.
To schedule an appointment online, visit gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov. You can call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH or the Auglaize County Health Department at 419-738-3410.