Local leaders urge residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as demand slows

Speaking at a COVID-19 press conference at the Dothan Civic Center, Southeast Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. George Narby said hospitalizations have decreased dramatically in the last several months. The hospital reported having eight COVID-19 patients admitted on Monday, down from a high of 117 on Jan. 8. However, vaccination appointments are not filling up as quickly as they once were.

“The last thing any of us want to see is a fourth surge,” Narby said, reiterating that all Southeast Health entities would require patients and visitors to require masks for the foreseeable future.

“We continue to encourage people to get vaccines, and have noticed that interest in new first shots seems to be declining. We have lots of appointments available. At this point I would just say there’s only two ways out of this pandemic. We can all get the virus and experience the disease or we can all get vaccinated.”

Between 70-90% of the population need to have immunity against the coronavirus for the U.S. to reach herd immunity, Narby said. The B-117 variant is now the most common variant in the U.S. and is reportedly more contagious, causing some case surges in certain parts of the country. Narby said the strain is circulating in the Wiregrass.

Hospital staff and volunteers have administered over 33,000 doses so far. Narby said after this week, the COVID-19 vaccination clinic will no longer require pre-registration or appointments to receive the Pfizer vaccine, but the clinic will remain open during the same time frame, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., for people to come at their convenience.

Flowers Hospital CEO Jeff Brannon echoed many of Narby’s sentiments, saying that Flowers staff have administered approximately 2,800 doses of the Moderna vaccine, mostly to frontline healthcare workers.

He said the hospital peaked in January with 65 inpatients and had 16 COVID-19 patients in the hospital’s care on Monday. However, Brannon said the hospital saw a low of six inpatients around 10 days ago.

“We’re in a good place right now, but we don’t want to see any kind of decline in the positivity that we’ve seen moving forward thus far,” Brannon said.

Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba promoted the city’s new public awareness campaign, highlighting the many myths surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine with a series of billboard ads around the city, such as “Can a COVID-19 vaccine make me sick with COVID-19?” The answer, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is “no.”

The billboards invite people to visit vaccinatedothan.com, which reroutes the user to a CDC webpage that debunks those myths in great detail. Saliba said he thinks the billboards are a sensible way to educate citizens about the vaccines to inform their personal choice.

He added that the city is trying to pay for the campaign using federal COVID-19 funds, but will use general fund dollars if necessary.

“This is not just for health; this is an economic issue as well,” Saliba said. “So us spending a little bit of money to help get that message out is beneficial.”

During the press conference, Saliba and Houston County Commission Chairman Mark Culver thanked various agencies involved with taking care of COVID-19 patients, including emergency services and area hospitals, and pharmacies and clinics that have helped administer vaccines.

“I think one of the things that is important is the fact that when the city and county in this Wiregrass area encounters trouble, we come together well and do a great job, much better together than we do apart,” Saliba said.

Dothan municipal buildings will continue to require visitors to wear masks, but Houston County public buildings will not require masks. However, Culver said wearing masks is still highly encouraged.

The county is planning to use some of its incoming COVID-19 stimulus funds from the federal government to purchase a county vehicle that can travel to rural parts of Houston County to administer the vaccine to people who want it, but may be unable to travel to a vaccination site.

In Alabama, there have been over 2 million doses administered to more than 1.3 million people – around 800,000 have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health’s vaccine dashboard.

For now, only the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines remain available to the public. On Tuesday, State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris announced that Alabama will temporarily pause the administration of Johnson & Johnson shots following guidance from the CDC and Federal Food and Drug Administration.

“COVID-19 vaccine safety is a top priority for Alabama,” Gov. Kay Ivey said following the announcement. “It is important to know that the adverse effects potentially stemming from the Johnson & Johnson shot have been extremely rare in the country, but out of an abundance of caution, Alabama is temporarily pausing these shots until we know more.

“I commend Dr. Harris for taking this swift step in our state so that we can continue moving forward, getting shots in the arms and putting COVID-19 behind us once and for all.”

As of Monday, more than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered in the U.S. The CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the J&J vaccine.