Public health officials like Stephenie Mellinger are frustrated at Indiana’s persistently low vaccination rates.
“If I knew what it took to get more people in this county vaccinated, I would have implemented that by now,” Mellinger, the administrator for the Madison County Health Department, told The Herald Bulletin.
She was responding to Indiana’s recent ranking by the website WalletHub on its handling of the coronavirus. The website ranked Indiana dead last among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Like the rest of the state, just over half of Madison County’s population is fully vaccinated.
Mellinger’s staff is offering COVID vaccines at its offices six days a week. It also operates a mobile van it takes to remote locations around the county.
Still, Mellinger says most of the folks coming in for vaccines these days are already vaccinated. They’re coming in for booster shots.
In the meantime, hospital beds across the state are filling up, and many of this state’s leaders seem to think the appropriate response is to undercut the efforts of businesses trying to ensure a safe working environment.
House Bill 1001 sets up financial repercussions for employers looking to comply with a pending federal vaccine mandate. Employers would be directed to pay for any required testing, and they would be precluded from parting ways with workers who refused to get a vaccine.
Naturally, employers don’t much like the measure.
“Please stay out of our business operations,” Kevin Brinegar, president and chief executive officer of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, told a legislative committee last week. “Hoosier employers are in the best position to determine what is the best vaccine policy for the safety of their employees, customers and patients.”
Testimony at that seven-hour hearing illustrated the challenge facing anyone trying to navigate the rough waters of this pandemic.
Kokomo cardiologist Donald Westerhausen, president of the Indiana chapter of the American College of Cardiology, pushed back against the misinformation he had heard from some of the witnesses.
For example, he said, there’s no truth to the claim that the so-called natural immunity you get from a mild case of the virus is stronger than the immunity you get from a vaccine. He cited three scientific studies that found the opposite to be true.
“These are facts,” he said. “Facts are stubborn and hard.”
As they consider the measure, lawmakers should take into account the state’s woeful ranking in comparison to other states.
They won’t help that ranking by embracing conspiracy theories and casting doubt on proven public health measures.
What they should do instead is look for ways to get more vaccines into the arms of Hoosiers. That’s the best thing any of us can do to stop this virus in its tracks.
