As COVID-19 vaccinations dwindle, health officials take them on the road

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown City Health District used to expect 400 sign-ups for its larger COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

As demand for the coronavirus vaccine plummets statewide, seeing 70 sign-ups for today’s clinic at the Covelli Centre is “a big deal,” said city health Commissioner Erin Bishop.

As Ohio now crawls toward the next milestone of 50-percent vaccinated, the outreach efforts of local health departments — such as mobile vaccination units that go into areas with low vaccine uptake — are becoming more important, Gov. Mike DeWine said.

“We are relying on a great deal of creativity we’re seeing in communities across the state,” the governor said during a Monday briefing. “They’re pulling out all the stops … they’re taking it directly to people.”

'We have a long way to go'

A little more than 40 percent of Mahoning County residents had gotten at least one jab as of Wednesday, according to the Ohio Department of Health, and fewer than 34 percent have finished their vaccine schedules.

Bishop told Mahoning Matters on Wednesday she’s “a little disappointed” the county isn’t further along by now. “We have a long way to go.”

City health district vaccination sites have popped up at numerous community events in the last several weeks, including the city’s Respect Basketball League at the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club of Youngstown’s Troy Hill Day.

“Every Saturday, it seems there’s some type of community event which we’ll be at,” Bishop said. “Anyone that reaches out to us and asks us to come, we make sure to put it on the schedule.”

Through Mahoning County Public Health's partnership with Mercy Health Youngstown, 160 students, teachers and administrators at six Mahoning County school districts have been vaccinated using the Pfizer-produced shot, which is the only vaccine approved for those aged 16 and older.

Vaccinations at three other school districts are set to finish this week, according to the MCPH.

“For months, we have been working diligently to build supply, meet demand and help educate our community on the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines,” Mahoning Health Commissioner Ryan Tekac is quoted in a Wednesday news release from Mercy Health. “There was a need for us to meet educators and students exactly where they were, and this partnership allows us to do so.”

The MCPH on Wednesday set a new clinic at Sebring McKinley High School, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. May 13, where the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be offered.

To sign up, visit the agency's ArmorVax sign-up system on its website.

Vaccine uptake has been low in the county’s far-western reaches, under 30 percent, estimated Tekac.

“We may look at some of our other ZIP codes and target those areas throughout the next month or so,” he said.

Youngstown City Health District has scheduled 10 clinics at nine sites through the rest of the month, including two at the Covelli Centre. You can get dates and times of those clinics and book appointments on the district’s COVID-19 website,

Mahoning and Trumbull counties currently have the 16th- and 22nd-highest vaccination rates statewide, respectively, according to ODH. But they’re still behind similarly sized counties like Delaware and Lake, which are leading the state in vaccinations.

Columbiana County is 47th.

Fewer than one-fifth of Mahoning County’s Black population, 7,124 people, have at least started their vaccine, compared to nearly two-fifths of the county’s white population, 72,947 people, according to ODH.

ZIP code-level data from ODH shows local health officials which neighborhoods have the lowest vaccination rates. In Mahoning County, the majority of those neighborhoods are in Youngstown, Bishop said. The district has received grant funding to target those areas, she added.

It’ll also make use of Mercy’s mobile vaccination units — which are offering the Pfizer vaccine — to visit different area churches, Bishop said.

'Time will tell' on herd immunity goal

Trumbull County Combined Health District’s largest clinics at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds in mid-January saw between 600 and 800 shots administered each day. Now, the district is administering about 40 to 50 doses at each clinic hosted out of its Warren office, said Kris Wilster, the district’s environmental health director.

“We have seen a decrease in demand for our clinics as the vaccine is more readily available all around the county,” he wrote in an email to Mahoning Matters. “As far as outreach, we are making attempts to go to churches, businesses and even the mall.”

Five new clinics have been set in the former Lane Bryant space near Eastwood Mall’s Center Court through the rest of the month, according to a news release from mall owners.

Like Columbiana County’s health department, Mahoning’s hasn’t requested any new doses of the coronavirus vaccine until it can work through some of the 700-or-so two-shot Moderna vaccines it still has on-hand, he said.

At the county’s largest vaccination site, the former Dillard’s store in Boardman’s Southern Park Mall, the number of shots given out has steadily declined since its opening on April 1, when there were 1,500. At last Saturday’s clinic, fewer than 300 showed, Tekac said.

“We’ve seen a significant drop,” he said. “It’s been a trend around the state and trend around the nation.

“Time will tell, as we go into summer, where we’re at in [vaccination percentage] and whether we’ll get to herd immunity.”

'Start to return to normal'

More than 90 percent of Americans live within five miles of a vaccination site, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th. There are 70 sites in the tri-county Mahoning Valley, the vast majority of which are between Youngstown and Warren.

Ryan on Wednesday urged constituents toward a new federal vaccination scheduling tool to get their shot. Americans aged 16 and older can now schedule vaccination appointments through vaccines.gov — in Spanish, vacunas.gov — or text their ZIP codes to GETVAX (438829) for help in making an appointment.

“Our own doctors tell us that getting vaccinated is the best thing we can do to protect ourselves and our communities,” Ryan said in a Wednesday news release. “You’re eligible right now, and there are people waiting to give you a shot — so use these new tools to get yourself, your family and your neighbors a vaccine today.

"Getting vaccinated is the best thing we can do to crush the pandemic, protect ourselves and our loved ones, and help start to return to normal.”

This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 3:52 AM with the headline "As COVID-19 vaccinations dwindle, health officials take them on the road."