TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Vigo and Knox County health officials have been working for months to get communities vaccinated in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Health officials said with relaxed restrictions and vaccination numbers down, community spread is beginning to increase.
“We’re mostly seeing all unvaccinated people,” Vigo County Health Educator Roni Elder said. “But we are seeing rare cases where people are elderly who have health issues but they’re vaccinated and they’re in the hospital but they’re not doing as bad as they would have pre-vaccine.”
Over 40 percent of eligible people are vaccinated in Vigo County and close to 60 percent of people are vaccinated in Knox County.
Knox County Health Educator Dr. Alan Stewart said officials are now at a point where they are trying to educate those who may be on the fence about the vaccine.
“We are continuing to do outreach programs,” he said. “We want to find out where home bound people are so we can go out and vaccinate them. We’re vaccinating a lot of people who are incarcerated.”
Elder said for her seeing the spread is disheartening after community officials’ efforts to keep cases down and get vaccination numbers up. However, she said she believes things can change if everyone does their part.
“The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is to get vaccinated,” she said. “It is still in our community. It’s something that we still need to be cautious of.. even though it’s summer and we’re outside. It can still be spread. So please be cautious of it.”
