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City firemen, police urged to get vaccine
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CHRIS NEWMAN, Archbold’s Vice President of Clinical Services, answered questions about the COVID-19 vaccine from Cairo’s first responders.
Cairo Mayor Howard Thrower, III invited Chris Newman, Archbold’s vice president of clinical services, to speak with the city’s public servants, including the fire and police departments. Newman asked the first responders to “separate politics and medicine when it comes to the [COVID-19] vaccine.”
Twenty-two of the police department’s 28 personnel attended Newman’s meeting with their department. According to Cairo Police Chief Giovannie Santos, six of his department’s employees have already taken the initial dose of vaccine, including Santos himself. Several employees expressed reservations about taking the COVID-19 vaccine before the meeting began.
When speaking to law enforcement personnel, Newman emphasized that as of Tuesday the Archbold system has distributed over 10,000 doses of vaccine, and the hospital staff have witnessed no severe allergic reactions to the shot.
Newman explained that even though this is the first vaccine of its kind to be widely distributed, “the studies are phenomenal,” showing a 95 percent effectiveness in preventing vaccinated people from catching the novel coronavirus.
“We need 70 percent immunity to move beyond this,” said Newman, referring to the threshold needed to slow community spread of COVID-19.
Mayor Thrower stressed the Archbold representative’s point that it is important for people of all ages to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The main motivation for me in obtaining the vaccine,” the mayor said, “is I don’t want the responsibility of giving [the virus] to someone with preexisting conditions who might be killed.”
Cairo first responders will be able to coordinate with Grady General Hospital to receive the vaccine, said Newman.
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