Town hall to be held Thursday on vaccine hesitancy

On Thursday from 7 to 8 p.m., state Sen. Tim Kearney, D-26 of Swarthmore and state Rep. Mike Zabel, D-163 of Upper Darby, will host a virtual town hall on vaccine hesitancy in vulnerable communities.

The “Building Vaccine Confidence in Our Communities” discussion will include a panel of experts featuring Dr. Diana Montoya-Williams from Children’s

Hospital of Philadelphia, Chichi Ilonzo Momah from Springfield Pharmacy and Davdeda Graham from Nurses United Against COVID.

Members of the public can register to view the event at www.senatorkearney.com/Vaccine.

“Many people have understandable questions about the COVID-19 vaccine,” Kearney said, “but it’s important to know the vaccine is tested, safe, and effective. We encourage anyone with questions to join us for this event so we can get back to the people and places we love.”

The representative shared a similar sentiment.

“If you are nervous or undecided about receiving the COVID vaccine, we want to address these concerns,” Zabel said. “The sooner we can get families and vulnerable communities vaccinated, the closer we will be to restoring normalcy to our daily lives.”

In fact, as Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced Tuesday that all but one of the COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted Memorial Day - the mask wearing measure. Restrictions on indoor or outdoor gatherings, restaurants and bars will be lifted as of May 31.

However, state officials said the mask wearing provision will remain in place until 70 percent of Pennsylvanians have been vaccinated. As of Tuesday, 5.1 million had received at least one dose of vaccine and almost 3.6 million had full vaccinations administered.

In Delaware County, according to state Department of Health statistics, 93,259 residents have been partially vaccinated and 156,569 have received the full allotment.

During the State of the County address last week, county officials addressed the need to increase the number of those vaccinated.

“To date, over 216,000 adults in the county have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which is about 50 percent of our adult population,” Councilwoman Elaine Paul Schaefer said at the time. “We need to reach at least 75 percent to reach herd immunity and we are almost there ... Every person who gets protection from the virus by getting a vaccination helps us to move closer to normal life.”

The Kearney/Zabel event is meant to address questions that the public may have about getting a vaccine. Anyone with questions is asked to email them to RepZabel@pahouse.net prior to the event.