Second-dose skip rate is low at Lorain County Public Health clinics

Almost everybody who received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from Lorain County Public Health is coming back for the second shot, Health Commissioner David Covell said Tuesday. He told local officials in the Lorain County Community Protection Team that just 3 percent to 5 percent of people who have gotten their initial dose from the county health department have not come back for their second. And many of those people who haven't returned for a second dose told Lorain County Public Health they decided to get the second shot from a different provider. "We're not having too many people just completely fall off the radar when it comes to that," Covell said. "At least we're not seeing that a lot in our clinics." Widely reported national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released late last month stated nearly 8 percent of people who got a Pfizer or Moderna shot missed the recommended second dose. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires just a single dose. The percentage of people vaccinated by Lorain County Public Health who don't come back for their second shot was even lower earlier this year, Covell said. As of Monday, the agency reported it had given out a total of 75,320 doses. In total, state data shows that 135,414 people in Lorain County have received at least one dose of the vaccine as of Tuesday, accounting for 43.71 percent of the county population. Of that group, 104,834 people, or 33.84 percent of the county population, have received all recommended doses. Lorain County's vaccination rates are currently exceeding the state's at large. Ohio has had 40.53 percent of residents start their vaccine with at least one dose, while 33.30 percent have completed their vaccine. Despite the county's vaccination rates outpacing the state's overall, Covell said the local rate is "starting to level out quite a bit." That leveling means there are open appointments for Lorain County Public Health clinics online at loraincountyhealth.com/signup. Help with scheduling appointments also is available by phone by dialing 211. Additionally, some of the county health department's larger vaccine clinics will be split between Johnson & Johnson and one of either Pfizer or Moderna, allowing attendees to choose between a one-dose or two-dose option. "We have had quite a few people who are asking for Johnson & Johnson, so that's a good thing, and hopefully we will get that moving even more," Covell said. Almost all of the new COVID-19 cases seen in Lorain County have been unvaccinated people, he said, although a couple of "breakthrough cases" in vaccinated individuals have been reported. Those cases tend to have mild symptoms. Officials with University Hospitals, Mercy Health — Lorain and Cleveland Clinic all said in Tuesday's Community Protection Team meeting that COVID-19 patients are still being admitted and treated for the virus. "The only way out of this mess, truly, is vaccination," said Dr. Rebecca Starck, president of the Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital. She said recent national drops in the rate of people being vaccinated are sobering. "Three weeks ago, I was so optimistic at the amount of production and the distribution and how we were able to operationalize that in this country," Starck said. "We have seen a 20 percent decline in vaccination rates in the last two weeks." Mercy Health — Lorain's chief operating officer, Charlotte Wray, said she is trying to help people "see through all the noise" and learn the truth about vaccine myths. "I'm doing everything I can to encourage people, not too aggressively, but encourage people to read the facts and get the vaccination," she said. "We've got to reduce the risk of spread, and until we get more people vaccinated, that risk is just going to continue to grow." Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.