A year after first vaccinations, the COVID-19 pandemic lingers in Ohio
In the year since the first Ohioans were injected with a COVID-19 vaccine, doctors say much progress has been made at stopping the spread of the virus, but not enough to end the pandemic.
The first Ohioans were vaccinated in Columbus a year ago Tuesday. Workers at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center received the Pfizer and BioNTech shots, the first of three vaccines to win federal approval.
The one thing that continues to surprise some doctors is just how many people have put off getting vaccinated or decided against it, said Dr. Andrew Thomas, chief clinical officer for Wexner Medical Center.
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As of Monday, 58.7% of the state’s population, or more than 6.8 million Ohioans, are fully vaccinated. Nationally, more than 202 million Americans, or 72 % of the U.S. population, are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s almost hard to remember what it was like before there were vaccines and how hopeful we were (once there were vaccines),” Thomas said. “But, I don’t think I could have predicted we’d still be sitting with this many people unvaccinated.”
Thomas led the local and statecountdown as five medical center workers became the first Ohioans injected with the vaccine at the same time. One of those workers was Dr. Jeffrey Horowitz, director of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the medical center.
While the vaccines brought hope for many, Horowitz was a little less optimistic that they’d bring a swift end to the pandemic. A year later, Horowitz feels his fears were unfortunately validated as COVID hospitalizations across the state reach near-record highs.
As of Monday afternoon, 4,745 Ohioans were hospitalized with the virus, marking the highest number of inpatients since December 2020. Horowitz fears that number could continue to climb due to the ongoing politicization of the vaccine and the fact that many Ohioans are still refusing to get the jab.
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“This isn’t just about a vaccine. There’s so much rolled into it,” Horowitz said. “The truth is that some people have dug in. … We’re a very fragmented population and I don’t know how to move the needle at this point.”
Despite some setbacks, a lot of progress has been made, said Dr. Meghana Moodabagil a third-year emergency and internal medicine resident at Ohio State. Like Horowitz, Moodabagil was also one of the first Ohioans vaccinated at Ohio State on Dec. 14, 2020.
Moodabagil is hopeful the federal approval of the vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 in November will help even more toward ending the pandemic. Boosters are also now being given to adults, when a year ago there wasn’t even enough vaccine to go around, Moodabagil said.
Perhaps the most hopeful thing about the vaccines, Moodabagil said, is that they seem to be holding up against most variants of the virus, though more research must still be done with regard to the omicron strain.
While almost no vaccine is 100% effective, experts say, the shots remain critical in reducing severe disease and death from the virus. Nearly 95% of Ohioans hospitalized with COVID since Jan. 1 have been unvaccinated, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
“This virus is going to be around for a very long time,” Moodabagil said. “If you’re vaccinated, you might get COVID and that’s OK. It might be a very mild case and you can brush it off.”
When the vaccines arrived at Ohio State a year ago, Gov. Mike DeWine joined doctors and other leaders to welcome them as they were dropped off in a hyper-cold cooler via a UPS truck. DeWine called it “a very, very exciting day for Ohio,” and said the vaccine’s arrival started “the process toward the end” of the pandemic.
“We have made significant progress in reducing the risk of serious illness and death since the arrival of the vaccine one year ago,” Dan Tierney, spokesman for the governor’s office, said via email. “This anniversary is a reminder for Ohioans who haven’t already received their booster to go ahead and schedule that recommended dose.”
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As the seasons change, doctors hope more vaccinations will stem what appears to be yet another winter surge in cases and hospitalizations across Ohio and much of the U.S.
The promise of the vaccines provided some relief to frontline workers such as Moodabagil, Horowitz and Thomas as the virus spiked across the state last December. At that time, health care workers were contracting COVID much more often than the general public and many feared they’d bring the disease home to their families.
Just one day after the first vaccines were administered, Ohio hit a record for hospitalized COVID patients with 5,308 being treated Dec. 15, 2020, according to the Ohio Hospital Association.
While it was a hectic time for many health care workers, Thomas said the vaccine gave them a much needed morale boost. Although cases and hospitalizations are again rising, Thomas said that extra layer of protection is still a comforting reassurance that frontline workers didn’t have a little more than a year ago.
“It was a lift emotionally for everyone,” Thomas said. “It was like the vaccine actually showed up at the exact right time when people needed some inspiration to keep them moving forward. I will remember that for the rest of my life.”
@MaxFilby
Read More: A year after first vaccinations, the COVID-19 pandemic lingers in Ohio