The Chautauqua County Well being Division is seeking to settle for a grant to handle vaccine hesitancy whereas one county legislator appeared uncertain about accepting the funding.
Throughout a gathering of the legislature’s Audit and Management Committee, members have been requested to amend the Well being and Human Companies adopted finances to just accept a $75,000 grant from the Nationwide Affiliation of County and Metropolis Well being Officers Vaccine Data Fairness and Demand Creation Challenge Funding.
Within the decision, it states the aim is to handle vaccine hesitancy in Chautauqua County subgroups, the purpose being to extend charges of vaccination amongst youngsters in addition to the Black/African-American group.
“This addresses enhancing our immunization charges,” mentioned Christine Schuyler, director of the county’s Well being and Human Companies Division. “Once we take a look at well being fairness and accessibility to well being care, particularly in preventive well being care companies, often for vaccinations those that we discover who’re most susceptible are the bottom immunization charges. We’ve lots of baby immunization within the minority populations who don’t have pretty much as good an entry to the companies as the remainder of the inhabitants.”
Whereas the grant would handle hesitancy for the COVID vaccine, there are a number of different vaccinations as nicely, together with pertussis (whooping cough), measles, mumps, shingles, HPV, and extra.
Schuyler mentioned a countywide coalition that works on vaccine consciousness will assist develop the marketing campaign. Despite the fact that the decision singles out the Black/African-American group, she mentioned the cash is designed to assist all types of communities which have low vaccination charges, together with the Hispanic inhabitants, Amish, aged and kids.
“Well being inequities do exists,” she mentioned. “They exist in county, our state, our nation, and it’s a part of our job to make sure that everyone has equal assess to well being care, and provide training, data and companies.”
Legislator Terry Niebel, R-Sheridan, mentioned he doesn’t like the thought of encouraging mother and father to get the COVID-19 vaccine for kids. “I don’t have an issue with you selling vaccines for smallpox, or scarlet fever, or any of those different issues. However selling COVID pictures for kids, I’m not there,” he mentioned.
However Schuyler mentioned they’ll’t single out one specific illness of their promotion of vaccines. “Mr. Niebel, there are a slew of vaccinations which might be really useful for kids, a large gamut of them.
“I’m not going to say that we’re not going to advocate COVID vaccinations for kids when they’re accepted by the FDA, really useful by the American Affiliation of Pediatrics. If that’s what you need me to do is we’re going to advocate sure vaccinations for sure folks and never others because the native well being division, then I cannot settle for this grant as a result of I’m not going to do this,” she mentioned.
Schuyler added that in the event that they refuse the funds, the $75,000 will simply return to the nonprofit group that’s providing it. They will’t use the cash for one thing else.
Legislator Dan Pavlock, R-Sinclairville, mentioned addressing vaccine hesitancy is just not one thing new. “This push for vaccination was current earlier than COVID began,” he mentioned. “A couple of years in the past colleges modified their guidelines and mandated that youngsters get vaccinated for sure issues or they don’t come to highschool. That was a reasonably sizzling matter for some time.”
Schuyler thinks the COVID vaccine push will comply with the flu shot.
“Influenza is really useful and I believe most likely that’s the place the COVID vaccine will find yourself,” she mentioned. “It’s not going to be a requirement for varsity, I don’t see it occurring, similar to influenza isn’t presently.”
Legislator Jay Gould mentioned vaccine hesitancy is nothing new. “I’m sufficiently old to recollect we went by the identical dialogue for polio,” he mentioned.
All committee members, together with Niebel, voted in favor of the grant. The complete Legislature is scheduled to vote on the grant on Wednesday for closing approval.
In line with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, 66% of the county’s whole inhabitants has acquired no less than one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, whereas 59.3% has been totally vaccinated. Additional, 62.7% of the inhabitants over the age of 5 has been totally vaccinated and 66% of the inhabitants over the age of 12 has been totally vaccinated.
