Sandwiched between the fair food stands and ride ticket booth, the county fair’s vaccine clinic was in a prime spot for foot traffic, highly visible and easily accessible.
A sign out front encouraged fair-goers to not hesitate, to get vaccinated.
But in five hours on Tuesday, just two people did.
Vaccinations have slowed to a level that is concerning local health officials as the county returns to “yellow” on the state’s color-coded map showing COVID-19 spread.
At the Johnson County Health Department’s pop-up vaccine clinic Tuesday at the Johnson County 4-H and Agricultural Fair, just two shots were given. That’s less than a full vial of vaccine, meaning several doses were wasted, said Betsy Swearingen, health department director.
Swearingen is hoping for better results when the health department returns Saturday to the fair to give more vaccines, she said.
Saturday is the second Kiddy Day on the midway, and vaccines will be available 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to coincide with the $15 ride bracelet deal. Both Moderna and Pfizer doses will be available, and vaccinators will schedule second dose appointments at Compass Park.
The health department’s clinic is not the only place vaccinations are slowing. Sites throughout the county have given few vaccines in the past month, local health officials say.
In the past week, vaccination rates have increased by less than 1% across local zip codes, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
Bargersville, Needham and Greenwood remain the only zip codes in the county with a majority of the 12 and older population vaccinated, state data shows. More than 70% of residents in the Bargersville and Needham zip codes are vaccinated, while more than 60% of residents living in both Greenwood zip codes are vaccinated.
With about 72,500 — 54% — of the county’s 132,800 residents 12 and older are vaccinated, health officials are concerned the highly contagious Delta variant could cause another surge in cases among the unvaccinated. The Delta strain is now the dominant strain found in Indiana, and is more than 200 times more infectious than previous variants of the virus.
An increase in positive test results, likely due to Delta, resulted in the county being moved to “yellow” on the state’s color-coded map, said Dr. David Dunkle, Johnson Memorial Health president and CEO. Johnson County has been in the “blue” category, according to the state’s color-coded map, for several months.
For much of the month, less than 10 new cases were reported. But in the past week, numbers have been in the teens, and on Wednesday the number shot up to 23 new cases, according to the state health department. The 7-day positivity rate for tests taken by county residents is 5.4%.
Though an increase in positive tests have been reported this week, there has not been an increase in hospitalizations. There have been no COVID-19 patients at the hospital for the past few days, Dunkle said.
With the variant spreading more rapidly, he is again asking people to use caution in places where people gather and vaccination status is not known, such as in large crowds or indoor spaces where social distancing is a challenge.
Though the vaccine still offers good protection, there have been a few local breakthrough cases recently, Dunkle said. That means some people who are fully vaccinated have tested positive for COVID-19.
Overall, breakthrough cases equate to less than 1% of vaccinated Hoosiers, state data shows. Of the more than 2.9 million Hoosiers who have been fully vaccinated, a little more than 2,700 have caught COVID-19, 132 have been hospitalized with COVID-19 and 46 have died from COVID-19.
The vaccines still offer protection, especially against severe illness and death, and it is still the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 and help keep the variants at bay, Dunkle said.
“If we don’t reach herd immunity, there is a chance that more infectious variants will come around. And that is coming to fruition now,” he said.
With more and more people unmasking, regardless of their vaccination status, the variants and other viruses such as the common cold and flu could tax hospitals again this fall, Dunkle said.
Getting a vaccine shows support for health care workers who bore the brunt of the stress during the pandemic, he said.
“As health care workers, this is disheartening,” Dunkle said. “Mentally, I’m not sure we can go through another horrible fall.”
