Wow. It’s finally easy to get a COVID vaccine shot. After months of waiting for the vaccine to become available, and more months of waiting to become eligible to get the shot, you can now make an appointment and just simply walk in almost anywhere.
Fifty-year-olds can get in. Thirty-five-year-olds. Sixteen-year-olds.
But when you show up at your appointment, you might be surprised. Where is everyone? Where are the lines?
Vaccine hesitancy has set in. Or, you could say, the vaccine supply is catching up to the group of people who are unsure about or don’t want to get a COVID vaccine for various reasons.
Two and half millions Minnesotans have already had at least one shot. This adds up to over half of everyone sixteen and older. And a whopping eighty-five percent of seniors sixty-five and older.
Demand for vaccinations has gone down. Now health experts are focusing on hard to reach populations, who might have logistical challenges to getting a vaccine, and those with vaccine hesitancy.
One way of doing this is through mobile vaccine units, which are visiting areas with lower vaccine coverage. Public health organizations are also disseminating information about the general safety and benefits of vaccination.
The great hope is that Minnesota will reach that magic number of 80 percent vaccinated so that herd immunity will kick in and restrictions can be lifted.
Tribes Communicate Critical Health Information Through Social Media