Rural public health workers are asking residents to reach out to older neighbors who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to see if they need help getting it.
Sean Sharma is the Health Officer for the Fountain and Warren County Health Departments. He said their small staff is working overtime to do both vaccinations and contact tracing. Sharma said they don’t have time to find everyone who is eligible for the vaccine.
“I think this really needs to be a community, a neighbor, a family effort,” he said. “If you’ve got someone down the street who is over 80 and you’re concerned about them, then stop by and give them a call and ask them if they’ve gotten scheduled for the COVID vaccine.”
Sharma encourages residents who are COVID-free to help get neighbors a clinic for the vaccine.
“In rural communities, we need to make sure that people have transportation to get there and we can get to older populations. I think one of the things we need to consider moving forward is how do we reach people who are most isolated,” he said. “That’s one of the questions we haven’t answered yet. But I’m excited it’s going well so far.”
Health officials in Tippecanoe County raised similar concerns last week, noting they felt the state’s vaccine rollout has been rushed. Specifically, health officials were concerned that the state increased the age group eligible to receive a vaccine too quickly.
Sharma said he’s not worried about the age groups so long as the state doesn’t add another decade anytime soon.
“We don’t want the over-80 group to compete with 50-year-olds,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a point in time where you can say ‘OK, we’ve met everybody over 80.’ I think we have to make sure we get all of those (vaccination) slots filled because people in their 70s are a high risk too.”
Sharma’s biggest concern is how to keep the community engaged in helping with vaccinations. He said they currently have a staff of seven full-time individuals split between contact tracing and vaccinations.
“So right now a lot of this has been done through volunteer effort,” he said. “We’re trying to use some of our COVID funds to pay some contract staff from within our community.”
Sharma said the department has vaccinated 500 people so far and has a goal of vaccinating 1,500 total residents through the month of January.
“It’s busy and it’s good, I think that’s great,” he said. “The challenge we have is looking forward and saying how long can we maintain this effort and keep it up. Right now there is a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, which helps.”
The Tippecanoe County health department said it has vaccinated over 1,000 people. That includes adults over 70 and public safety and healthcare workers who had not yet received a vaccine elsewhere.