Methodist Fremont Health President and CEO Brett Richmond has heard it a lot in the past few weeks.
Area residents are procrastinating about getting their COVID-19 vaccinations.
“I still hear people say, ‘I’m kind of waiting my turn,’” Richmond said. “Well, it’s your turn. Don’t wait anymore. There is plenty of vaccines in the community so go do it.”
Richmond said while the pandemic situation is improving, it isn’t a time to celebrate.
“We can see light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re still in the tunnel,” he said. “We’re still seeing new cases each and every day. I think the health department even reported three new deaths in the district last week so it is still prevalent in our community. Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate is our focus right now.”
Dr. Paige Groppe-Giesselmann of Pediatric Partners said there are various vaccination studies being conducted on youths.
“We don’t do (COVID) vaccines in our office, but we definitely are very strong proponents for it,” she said. “They are just continuing to do the studies. Omaha just announced that there are going to be two studies for six months to 12 years. One is at Children’s and one at Meridian that’s going to be for another vaccine. I work with kids so the vaccines haven’t been available until recently with Pfizer being approved for 16 and above. They’ve opened it up for 16 and older so we’re encouraging them all to do the vaccine.”
Groppe-Giesselmann said the Pfizer and Moderna studies have been submitted to the FDA for ages 12 and above.
“So hopefully by the end of the summer,” she said. “I know the long-term goal was to have it available for kids prior to school starting in the fall. I think that looks very encouraging that could happen.”
Groppe-Giesselmann said she placed her 14-year-old daughter in the Pfizer study.
“We don’t know whether she got the vaccine or not,” she said, since vaccine studies are conducted “double-blind,” which means that until the study is completed, neither the participants in the study nor the researchers tracking them know who received a vaccine dose and who received a placebo dose. “If she hasn’t [received a vaccine], it will definitely be our plan to go ahead and get her vaccinated.”
Richmond said the Three Rivers Health Department reported that about 42 percent of adults 16 and older in the three-county jurisdiction (Dodge, Saunders and Washington) have been fully vaccinated.
“I think that number will get to 50 or 60 pretty easily if you think about all of the people who have gotten the first dose and are kind of waiting to get the second dose,” he said.
Methodist Fremont Health will no longer be doing first-dose clinics at Christensen Field.
“In the next four weeks, we’ll finish out those who have gotten the first dose from us, but the demand has really gone down so the approach is switching a little bit,” Richmond said.
Three Rivers is going to do two walk-in clinics every week at 2400 N. Lincoln Ave in Fremont. They will be 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Fridays. Three Rivers will also host walk-in vaccine clinics the first and third Monday of each month in Wahoo at their Lake Wanahoo Clinic, and on the second and fourth Monday of each month in Blair at First Lutheran Church (2146 Wright St in Blair) to take care of Saunders and Washington County residents.
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