Pa.’s Physician General visits BJC, takes questions on COVID-19 herd immunity, Beaver Stadium
More than half of Pennsylvania’s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but the state’s acting physician general still couldn’t say for certain Monday whether the commonwealth would achieve herd immunity — or whether Beaver Stadium would experience full capacity in the fall.
Dr. Denise Johnson, who took over in March, made herself available to local media for about 10 minutes Monday inside Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center, after touring the vaccine clinic inside the basketball facility. She hoped to echo the importance of the vaccine for college students, and combat vaccine hesitancy, although she bristled at questions involving projections. There are still too many unknowns, she said.
When asked the odds that, by summer’s end, Pennsylvania would achieve herd immunity — meaning a vaccination rate of at least 70%, based on many experts’ opinions — Johnson said that simply depended on individual behavior “and I’m not very good at predicting that.” When asked, based on the current trajectory, whether Penn State might be able to host full-capacity football games this fall, she simply responded, “If they get vaccinated” before thanking reporters and leaving the podium.
Based on reporting from the New York Times, which aggregated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pennsylvania currently ranks 10th nationally with 50.3% of its population having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. But that unvaccinated half could prove tricky for health officials; a recent Pitt/Carnegie Mellon survey found 22% of its respondents were vaccine hesitant.
“Many young people don’t see the urgency,” Johnson said. “They don’t think they’re going to get sick. Or, if they get sick, they don’t think they’re going to be hospitalized or have long-term consequences. And that’s just not true.”
Making vaccines a requirement?
Penn State has not yet officially issued a decision on whether it will require the COVID-19 vaccine for the fall semester but, based on a recent presentation from university President Eric Barron, the university appears to be moving away from a potential mandate.
For now, Barron said last week, Penn State will simply attempt to incentivize the vaccine. Likewise, Johnson on Monday did not sound like an acting physician general bent on making the vaccine a student requirement.
“I think that’s a decision of the universities,” she said. “And so what we want is for people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their family members — and, again, so that we could decrease the spread of the virus and therefore variants.”
‘Students in this area are lucky’
Johnson was not certain how many college aged-students in the commonwealth have been vaccinated so far, but she did laud Penn State and Centre County for helping make the vaccine widely available here.
The clinic in the BJC is open noon to 8 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, and again 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and will remain open indefinitely — including this weekend during commencement, if parents are interested in getting vaccinated. The BJC offers the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines, respectively, while nearby Mount Nittany often offers Pfizer.
On a recent Wednesday afternoon, the Centre Daily Times was also able to find about 50 available off-campus appointments within a 5-mile radius of campus that same afternoon.
“Students in this area are lucky,” Johnson added. “They have the opportunity to get access to all three vaccines, really within their area.”
Best course moving forward?
Dr. Leana Wen, former Health Commissioner for the City of Baltimore, recently appeared on CNN and grouped those who haven’t yet gotten vaccinated into three categories: anti-vaxxers, those who want it but are busy and those on the fence who have specific concerns.
Johnson’s comments mostly focused on that last group, and the busy physician general left before other groups could be addressed. But Wen, who wasn’t on-hand Monday but has made several TV appearances, emphasized during a recent taping that, to help that middle group, vaccines should be brought to the public instead of asking the public to come to them.
“I think we should be closing mass vaccine sites, redistributing vaccines to doctor’s offices, pharmacies, getting public clinics and churches and schools and workplaces — that’s how to reach those people,” Wen said on CNN.
The BJC clinic, which is operated by the Pennsylvania National Guard and AMI Expeditionary Healthcare LLC, is designed to vaccinate up to 600 people per day, according to Mike Williams, clinic team lead for AMI Health.
Williams declined to share how many people have been vaccinated at the site overall, or how many appointments were scheduled Monday. But, based on observation and discussions with other officials, it’s believed that fewer than 20% of Williams’ listed capacity had appointments Monday. Even Johnson acknowledged Monday was “slow.”
For those who currently have vaccine concerns, Wen said it was important for family and local figures to share their experiences. Johnson appeared to agree.
“If you have been vaccinated, please tell your family and friends about your experience and reasons for getting vaccinated,” Johnson said. “Hearing from someone they trust can give them additional information. But we also have information listed on our website, PA Unites Against COVID, so you can get all of the safety and effectiveness information on all three vaccines.”
Want to get vaccinated?
If you want to get vaccinated and still have not, you can register for the BJC clinic online or call 844-545-3450. The BJC clinic offers both Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.
If you want to schedule elsewhere or prefer the potential to have the Pfizer vaccine, you can schedule an appointment online through Mount Nittany or by calling 814-234-7606.
You can also see open appointments elsewhere on vaccinespotter.org or can visit the Pennsylvania Department of Health website for a full list of vaccine locations in Centre County.
