There are two major local events involving COVID this week with a Carroll County Public Health Johnson and Johnson vaccination clinic on Wednesday and the release of a pre-recorded town hall from healthcare experts Thursday. Chief Medical Officer at St. Anthony Regional Hospital, Dr. Kyle Ulveling, says the COVID two-week rolling average in the county is relatively low right now.
He says the dedicated inpatient infectious disease ward has been closed at St. Anthony, but it can be reopened if there is another surge. Ulveling adds hospitalizations have declined, but they have not gone without an inpatient for quite some time and are consistently at one or two. However, even though markedly improved, things could get worse again.
Ulveling describes the major differences with the U.K. variant.
In the U.S. there are three authorized vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, and they are effective against the U.K. variant at only slightly less efficacy than against the wild strain. Ulveling says it is still better, by far, to be vaccinated. The Brazilian, Indian and South African variants may be a different story and the reason behind talk of boosters later in the year. The population that is currently seeing the highest rise in positive rates also contains the most unvaccinated individuals. Ulveling says they have heard of a predominate reason why those in the 20 to 40 age classification are not lining up to get vaccinated.
https://www.1380kcim.com/episode/kcim-interview-dr-kyle-ulveling/
Ulveling says the healthcare community understands there is nothing quite as personal and important as fertility and pregnancy and it is well worth extra time spent in conversation answering these individual’s questions and discussing the science behind the vaccinations and the real impacts. He says even though there are 60 percent of all eligible people vaccinated in Carroll County, the overall rate is at around 40 percent. The announcement this week that the Pfizer vaccine is opening up to patients 12 and up will help us get to a 70 percent vaccination rate target towards herd immunity. However, Ulveling says we are encountering vaccination resistance now that there are large quantities of all vaccine types vetted and approved for use. We will bring you more on this as well as Dr. Ulveling’s direct answers to patients on side effects and booster shots in an upcoming newscast. On Wednesday, 100 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine are available on the first floor near the lab at St. Anthony Regional Hospital between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. This is the only single-dose vaccine available. Appointments can be made by following the link included below. Walk-ins will also be accepted. Also included here is a link to the full interview with Dr. Ulveling.
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Link to register for Johnson and Johnson vaccination clinic: https://form.jotform.com/211184279312149?fbclid=IwAR1rzeOjykQoLO9wEJ95aprFn873J-hqiHYWa6PCI9d-3UjeE_pvY9IVQZY
