Gov. DeWine visits COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Heritage Hall

Gov. DeWine at the press conference at Heritage Hall on Monday afternoon. Photo by Emily Zeiler.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine visited Ohio University’s Heritage Hall vaccine clinic Monday afternoon to address COVID-19 vaccinations in Ohio and his efforts to get college students vaccinated. 

During his visit, DeWine described the COVID-19 vaccine as the only way for the state to return to life before the pandemic. 

“For the state, vaccinating people is our ticket to get back to normal,” he said. 

DeWine added that for young people with dreams and aspirations, the vaccine is “their ticket to freedom.”

Gov. DeWine and his wife, Fran DeWine, entering the press conference. Photo by Emily Zeiler.

He said Ohio has enough doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to vaccinate college students, despite the availability of doses being expected to drop in the coming weeks. 

“We have enough Johnson & Johnson for our college students,” DeWine said. “We face this problem other states face, and that is the amount of Johnson & Johnson has crashed, at least for a few weeks. That is the reality, I can’t change that, but we made a strategic decision to use the Johnson & Johnson for college students. We have enough to do that.”

DeWine previously said he hopes most of the state’s COVID-19 restrictions would be lifted by July 4. At Monday’s event, he confirmed that he believes this is still a realistic goal.

“I’m an optimist, and I think we can do this. Ohioans have done well. Ohioans have continued to wear masks, Ohioans are getting vaccinated at a good clip, but we just have to keep doing it,” he said. 

Gov. DeWine addresses the status of Ohio and vaccinations. Photo by Emily Zeiler.

According to the Ohio Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard, 35.27% of Ohio’s population has started the process of getting vaccinated, as of publication of this article. 

DeWine also commented on the federal government’s distribution of the vaccine. 

“I think it makes great sense for the federal government to allocate resources, which means vaccines and people to help based upon where the biggest surge is,” he said. 

DeWine later added that he believes all states should receive the same amount of the vaccine based on population, except for when a surge in COVID-19 cases occurs. He said he thinks the federal government should reallocate more doses of the vaccine to areas where surges are happening.

DeWine said he is uncertain if people’s willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine will plateau before herd immunity can be reached in Ohio, but remains optimistic that people will want to get the vaccine.

“We (have) two things going on,” DeWine said. “We have the virus coming back up, we’re seeing what’s happening to our neighbor to the north in Michigan, and we don’t want to be in that situation. At the same time we’ve vaccinated now 35%, 36% of the population in the state of Ohio, and we’re vaccinating people every single day.” 

Three students received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at the event. Simar Kalkat, a Cutler Scholar at Ohio U, was one of the three students vaccinated. 

“I feel great,” Kalkat said after being vaccinated. 

Simar Kalkat reads information about the vaccine before receiving it. Photo by Emily Zeiler.

Gov. DeWine talks to Ohio U student Prestin Minter after he received the vaccine. Photo by Emily Zeiler.

Ohio U President Duane Nellis said Ohio U will not require vaccinated students to participate in regular COVID-19 testing during the upcoming fall semester. He added that students who are not vaccinated will be subject to “a more rigorous testing regime.” 

The university has not yet announced if it will be requiring students on campus in the fall to be vaccinated. 

“We’re looking at the legal aspects, as a public institution, what we can and can’t do,” Nellis said. 

Ohio U currently requires students to be vaccinated against meningitis, but this is only enforceable because of state guidelines.  

Ohio U Chief Medical Affairs Officer Dr. Ken Johnson said the university plans to continue to encourage students to get vaccinated and continue testing for those who choose not to get the vaccine. Johnson also said 86% of students wanted to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a survey conducted by Ohio U. 

“The program that we have going on now, particularly with the one shot, is ideal at this point and time where students are coming to the end of their semester. One shot and then they distribute back over the state of Ohio and beyond, so it’s really been a perfect program,” Johnson said. 

Gillian Ice addresses the press about the vaccination clinic on campus for students. Photo by Emily Zeiler

Gillian Ice, Ohio U special assistant for public health operations, said student vaccination clinics are not full. She said she believes this is because many students received the COVID-19 vaccine from other locations before it was offered through Ohio U. 

“Student demand has been pretty good. We actually know that quite a few students got the vaccine before it was open to them here, and so our clinics have been well-attended, not full, and we think some of that’s because students have already gotten the vaccine,” Ice said.

Athens City-County Health Department Administrator Jack Pepper also spoke about the progress made so far in vaccinating both students and residents of Athens County.

“Athens County really has been pretty successful, here in Southeast Ohio in particular, in meeting some of the higher percentages of the different age demographics that have been vaccinated, so we’re really proud of that,” Pepper said. 

Athens County has received about 840 doses of COVID-19 vaccine a week, Pepper said.