BUCYRUS—Between December of 2020 and March 31, 2021, Crawford County Public Health administered 5,905 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Crawford County residents.
According to Health Commissioner Kate Siefert, this figure does not include people who have been vaccinated at other locations, including Avita, local pharmacies or by the Galion Health Department.
According to the state of Ohio’s website, the latest figures show that 27.41 percent of Crawford County residents have received one dose of the vaccine and 18.95 percent of county residents have been fully vaccinated by the end of March.
“We have primarily had the Moderna vaccine, but have also had times in which we administered Pfizer and Janssen (J and J),” said Siefert. “We only have access to the records of people we have vaccinated. There are currently 11 different vaccine administrators/locations in Crawford County.”
Those locations include Avita Galion Hospital, Bucyrus Health and Wellness Center, Discount Drug Mart in Galion, the Galion City Health Department, Kroger Pharmacy in Bucyrus, Walmart in Bucyrus, the Rite Aid Stores in Crestline and Galion, the Medicine Shoppe in Bucyrus and Quay Drugs in Galion.
Siefert said that her office has not received reports of any major illnesses or reactions caused by the vaccine.
“Vaccination is the best chance we have in ending the pandemic. If you review the history of smallpox and polio, you can see the correlation in how important vaccination was in eliminating those diseases,” said Siefert.
Siefert said that while her department is seeing a slight decrease in the number of cases, it certainly is not time yet to say we are going to continue to experience a decrease.
“What we are seeing is that the cases being reported to our office are much younger. At the end of 2020, the average age of the cases was 48 years of age. If we look at the average age of the cases from February and March, that average has dropped to 42 years of age,” said Siefert.
She said since Feb. 1, there have been 43 cases of COVID in people under the age of 19 and of those, 12 were cases of kids under the age of 10.
She said people need to continue with all of the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
“To schedule with our office, people are welcome to call (419) 562-5871. We have plenty of appointment times still available,” said Siefert. “We are currently accepting anyone age 18 and older due to the fact we only have the Moderna vaccine on hand. (Only Pfizer is for ages 16 and older),” said Siefert.
She said if people are looking for the Janssen one-dose vaccine, there will be the Ohio Northern University Mobile Clinic on April 15 and 29 at the Crawford County Fairgrounds in Bucyrus
“Be sure to watch our Facebook page for more information regarding the times and available doses once those details are finalized,” said Siefert.
Visit the Crawford County Public Health Facebook page by clicking here.