Worth
Students expre vaccine distrib encourage others
W
hen junior Jayden Riley got his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, he said he appreciated the diligent work that enabled him to get it. “It’s weird to think that last year I was still stuck in my room quarantining,” Riley said. “But I’m extremely thankful that we’ve gotten this far this quickly. I know for me as soon as the requirement to get vaccinated opened to (ages) 16 and older, I immediately scheduled.” Others at the school share Riley’s appreciation. Although sophomore Macie DeLillo is ineligible for the vaccine at the moment, she said she’s thoroughly impressed about the work already done so far. “At the rate we are distributing doses, there seems to be a good outlook making me very hopeful for the soon future,” DeLillo said. “I am also hopeful that a vaccine gets approved for ages 16 and under very soon, getting us closer to ‘herd immunity.’ But I also understand that the process has been thought out and executed at an appropriate pace so that systems were never constantly overloaded with recipients or large quantities of the vaccine were not put to waste.” Riley and DeLillo’s hopeful expectations are shared with Monica Heltz, director of the Fishers Health Department. According to Heltz, officials have taken many actions to ensure the rapid roll out of more vaccines.
>>
WORDS LEAH TAN “We have our epidemiologist do modeling every week to when we project to reach ‘herd immunity,’ and target our messaging to certain demographics that appear to be lacking,” Heltz said. “Plus, Pfizer has already submitted its emergency approval for distribution of people (ages) 12 and up, so I think we will start to accelerate the rate of vaccinations once the demographic opens up more.” Despite these hopeful expectations of fast vaccine roll out, Heltz also said there has been a dip in the rate of vaccinations for unknown reasons. “Although we’re at a point where we can get any amount of vaccine distributed, we’re starting to see that there’s been a dip in the demand for vaccine appointments,” Heltz said. “I think part of it is that the vaccine is more widely available, and the other part may be because since we’re getting into younger age groups the desire to get vaccinated may be smaller.”
PATH TO VACCINATION See specifics of each COVID-19 vaccine Company
Johnson & Johnson
Approved Age Group
Vaccine Type
16+
mRNA
18+
mRNA
18+
Viral vector
