Ohio County Vaccination Rate Among Best in West Virginia
Trending
WHEELING -- One year removed from the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine being administered, Ohio County is near the top of the most well-vaccinated counties in West Virginia.
According to the state Department of Health and Human Resources, Ohio County's rate of those at least partially vaccinated is 69.7% among those 5 years and older, 75.6% for those 18 and older, and 97.2%for those 65 and older. Each metric is significantly ahead of the statewide average of 63.1, 69.9, and 86.4%, respectively.
Also, Ohio County ranks second behind only Kanawha County on the DHHR's map of doses administered per 1,000 residents -- 662 to Kanawha's 694.
Wheeling-Ohio County Health Administrator Howard Gamble said he feels the county's standout performance in administering the vaccine -- compared to others in West Virginia -- could be due to the relatively high number of residents who interact with, or live in, long-term care facilities.
"We have a population, in the county and in the region, that knew the benefits of vaccines for vaccine-preventable diseases," Gamble said. "A lot of those knew, 'here's what you do to prevent a disease.' We also have a lot of individuals who are vaccinated within our long-term care facilities, and we have an abundance in this area, the Good Shepherd (Nursing Home), the Peterson (Healthcare and Rehabilitation Hospital) and (Bishop Hodges) Continuous Care Center.
"They deserve a lot of credit for getting their population vaccinated very early, plus their workforce," he added. "The same can be said for Wheeling Hospital. A lot of individuals got vaccinated very quickly, and they did it themselves before we were setting up the vaccine center."
Gamble had mixed feelings recalling the first days rolling out the vaccine, where thousands would come to get their first doses as soon as possible, leading to some being turned away due to lack of supply. Now, Gamble said, it's become routine to dispose of unused vaccine doses that have expired.
"Those were very difficult parts of the pandemic, for someone who came to the vaccine center or event. Nowadays, we have too much, it expires and we get rid of it, and we don't think anything of it," Gamble said.
Gamble said their expectation was that by this time, Ohio County would be still further ahead than it is. Had vaccines been more quickly adopted, he mused, variants may not have been as prevalent, and local communities could have returned more to normal.
"Today's our one-year anniversary. We started when the vaccine arrived one year ago," Gamble said Thursday. "Looking back on it, we're still at The Highlands right now vaccinating. ... One year into this, with a vaccine that's readily available, a walk-in clinic ... we would have thought we'd be at the high 80s percent of the population vaccinated, and therefore just controlling the smaller cases that arise.
"We would've liked to see a whole lot more people vaccinated early in the campaign, and I think that would have led to a better outcome when a variant arrived - if it arrived - for the population," he continued. "With a vaccine-preventable disease, whether it be measles, polio, rabies or this, if it's available, especially during a pandemic, the general population should take advantage of it. It's going to help reduce disease and disability and, yes, get us back to a more normal level."