Local health officials say they are concerned about the number of unvaccinated people in the Columbus area, as the number of Bartholomew County residents getting their initial doses of the vaccines approaches new all-time lows.
Just 257 Bartholomew County residents received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine the week of Sept. 19, according to the Indiana Department of Health. An additional 14 Bartholomew County residents received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine that week.
That’s the lowest weekly total for first doses since local health officials were celebrating the arrival of the first shipment of vaccines in mid-December, when 238 doses were administered.
The lagging vaccination rate paints what some local health officials described as a “frustrating” and “disheartening” picture about 10 months into the vaccination campaign — tens of thousands of people in the Columbus area who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines have not yet gotten a single dose.
About 23,870 Bartholomew County residents who are eligible for the vaccines have so far opted to not get vaccinated, according to state records. And an additional 27,600 eligible people in Jackson and Jennings counties had yet to roll up their sleeves for the vaccine.
Overall, 79% of Bartholomew County residents who are fully vaccinated completed vaccination by the end of May before demand for the shots plummeted in June.
Local vaccinations ticked up during much of July and August but have started to go back down since then.
“It is definitely frustrating to see the number of people receiving new vaccinations dwindle week by week,” said Bartholomew County Health Officer Dr. Brian Niedbalski. “We still only have about (half) of our local population fully vaccinated. That’s leaving too many people at increased risk to get sick and possibly hospitalized with COVID-19.”
Hospitalizations remain high
At the same time, COVID-19 hospitalizations at Columbus Regional Hospital remain high, with 30 people hospitalized as of Wednesday. COVID-19 hospitalizations have not been below 28 since Aug. 18.
Two children were hospitalized at CRH with COVID-19 this past week.
Hospital officials said that COVID-19 vaccinations have been barely keeping up with positive tests in recent days.
A total of 1,512 positive COVID-19 tests were reported in Bartholomew County last month, compared to 1,515 first doses of the vaccine over the same time period, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
But as hospital officials continue to manage through the current wave of infections and hospitalizations, they’re already bracing for they expect could be the next as temperatures drop and people start to gather indoors more often.
“We’re projected to go up again here in the late fall, early winter similar to what we did last year,” DeClue said. “…With the rate of vaccination where it’s at, we’re concerned that we’re not going to see the dip back down into the lower single-digit numbers before we have another spike.”
“So it could potentially be worse than our worst last year,” she said.
Most infectious disease experts have estimated that at least 70% to 80%, perhaps more, of the total population will need to be fully vaccinated to reach herd immunity — the threshold experts believe is needed to stop uncontrolled spread of COVID-19.
But Bartholomew County, as well as much of the rest of the state and country, remains far below that target.
The U.S. vaccination campaign also has fallen behind other countries, including Portugal, where 84% of the total population is fully vaccinated, and Canada, where 72% of people are now fully vaccinated, The New York Times reported.
As of Friday morning, nearly 56% of the total U.S. population was fully vaccinated, including 65% of those who are eligible, according to the CDC.
About 53% of Bartholomew County’s total population was fully vaccinated as of Friday morning, including nearly 63% of those eligible, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
Booster campaign
The concerns from local officials come as they prepare to give booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended for a large group of Americans.
Last week, the CDC recommended that people ages 65 years and older, residents in long-term care settings and people ages 50 to 64 with certain underlying medical conditions get a booster shot at least six months after they got a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
The CDC also said the following people can get a Pfizer booster shot after considering “their individual benefits and risks”:
People ages 18 to 49 with certain underlying medical conditions who got their second Pfizer shot at least six months ago
People ages 18 to 64 who got their second Pfizer shot at least six months ago and may be at an increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission due to their job or institutional setting, including prison inmates and those living in homeless shelters
The booster shots are only for people who originally got the Pfizer vaccine, not the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
So far, local health officials say the booster campaign has gotten off to a good start, though they were unable to quantify exactly how many had received them so far.
CRH will reopen its standalone vaccination site at 1702 Keller Ave. on Tuesday in anticipation of increased demand due to, in large part, the availability of booster shots, though people who have not been vaccinated at all can also get their initial doses at the clinic.
The clinic will be open Tuesdays and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Walk-in hours have been set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the same days, but CRH officials prefer that people schedule appointments online at ourshot.in.gov.
As of early afternoon Thursday, all vaccine appointments at the clinic on Tuesday were booked — about 192 appointment slots — and appointments on Thursday were “almost full,” DeClue said.
However, CRH officials were unable to specify how many of those appointments were for booster shots.
“It’s a really good sign,” DeClue said.
Amanda Organist, director of nursing at the Bartholomew County Health Department, said many people had already come in to get their booster shot as of Thursday morning, but was unable to quantify how many.
The Bartholomew County Health Department had previously said it planned to start giving out the booster this past Sunday.
“We are still seeing those coming for their first dose, second dose or booster,” Organist said. “Our clinics have continued to be busy. There are many opportunities for anyone to receive their vaccine if they haven’t yet.”
As of Friday morning, 4.36 million people in the United States had received a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine or a third dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines due to having a severely weakened immune system, according to the CDC.
Hope and uncertainty
However, local health officials remain optimistic that people will continue to get vaccinated, particularly once the Pfizer vaccine is authorized for children ages 5 to 11, so that “more of our vulnerable population can be protected from serious disease.”
But with the ultra-contagious delta variant continuing to circulate and some people starting to experience waning immunity, only time will tell how a pandemic that has killed 465 people across much of the greater Columbus area — including 174 people in Bartholomew County — will evolve in the coming weeks and months.
“This pandemic has been so unpredictable that I can’t say for sure what the future holds,” Niedbalski said. “…There is some hope that the combination of fully vaccinated individuals plus those with natural immunity may reduce the possibility of another surge, but as immunity wanes, nothing is certain.”
