vaccine hesitancy
As child COVID toll mounts, governor says legislature has tied his hands
Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday blamed Republican lawmakers for his inability to take stronger action against a surge in coronavirus cases — particularly among children. But he wouldn’t say they shared blame for a crisis that is putting children and adults on ventilators and straining hospital capacity across the state. And despite saying he’d like […]
Feds: Florida, Missouri, Texas accounted for 40 percent of all COVID-19 cases last week
WASHINGTON — Amid a rise in infections and hospitalizations from the surging delta variant of COVID-19, the Biden administration is boosting money and other assistance to the hardest-hit areas of the country. This week, just three states with lower vaccination rates — Florida, Texas and Missouri — accounted for 40 percent of all cases nationwide. […]
Latest increase in cases, hospitalizations has Ohio health officials pushing vaccines
Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff acknowledges that as the public face of the Ohio Department of Health he is repeating himself a lot these days. But the message is important enough to continue repeating in simple terms, ODH’s chief medical officer said Wednesday. “It really comes down to, are you vaccinated and safe or are you unvaccinated […]
Health experts speak out against bill prohibiting vaccine mandates
Pediatricians and other infectious disease experts issued clear warnings about a proposed bill to weaken Ohio’s vaccination laws: Doing so would put children’s lives at risk and potentially expose the state to a resurgence of deadly viruses. A half-dozen medical experts implored lawmakers to reconsider approving a new law that would prohibit vaccine mandates for […]
Public health officials try to battle the misinformation pandemic
Ohio continues to get good news in its fight against coronavirus. On Saturday, the infection rate dropped to less than 50 cases per 100,000 Ohioans. That’s the rate Gov. Mike DeWine originally set for removing COVID-related health orders, although he backed off of it as federal authorities eased masking guidance. The rate is a far, […]
This rural county in Ohio has a COVID-19 case rate of zero
Vinton County in rural Southeast Ohio was the last county in the state to record a positive case of COVID-19. It also appears to be the first without any cases remaining — at least for the time being. The sparsely-populated Vinton County has not been as hard hit by the pandemic as in other places […]
States follow Ohio’s lead in announcing their own vaccine lotteries
What some Ohio lawmakers saw as a wasteful gameshow gimmick, other governors saw as an opportunity. It took only a few weeks after Gov. Mike DeWine announced the Vax-A-Million for other states to introduce their own vaccine lottery programs. There are cash prizes in Oregon, music festival tickets awarded in Delaware and even custom rifles […]
Ohio’s unvaccinated might be in as much danger now as they were in February. But state officials can’t directly track them
More than 5 million Ohioans have started getting vaccinated against the coronavirus — and a few lucky ones will win a million bucks or a free ride to college for doing so. That has overall disease, hospitalization and death numbers plummeting as Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine ends covid restrictions on Wednesday. But the 64% of […]
Ohio announces end of health orders, new incentives for vaccines
Gov. Mike DeWine began to move from sticks to carrots Wednesday when it comes to protecting Ohioans from COVID-19. The rate of infections is more than double the goal he set for removing pandemic-related restrictions. Even so, DeWine said that on June 2, all orders will expire except those regarding nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. […]
The NFL is asking for vaccine proof at Ohio event, but the governor won’t recommend other businesses to do likewise
When the NFL draft opens in Cleveland on Thursday, people will have to show proof that they’ve been fully vaccinated to be in most rooms where the action is taking place and to attend part of the fan event. Also, the league is requiring team employees who are medically eligible to get vaccinated or lose […]
As in other states, Ohio might be running out of people who want shots
Some county health departments in Ohio are again telling state officials this week not to send them any more coronavirus vaccines. That’s because they haven’t been able to use up the supplies they already have. It might be part of a national phenomenon. The news organization Axios reported this week on a paper by the […]
Ohio scrambles to adjust to vaccine “pause”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday said he was blindsided like everybody else when he learned that federal public health officials were advising that all states should “pause” administration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. DeWine followed that advice and now vaccine providers are trying to pivot as quickly as they can so that […]