Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health director says studies show effectiveness of COVID vaccine

MASON CITY — The Cerro Gordo County Department  of Public Health’s director says while there’s good news on how well vaccines are protecting people, there’s spots in the country that are seeing surges in COVID activity.

Brian Hanft says the New England Journal of Medicine says studies that have looked at the people who have gotten the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines show the positivity of getting vaccinated.  “Once you get out past 14 days of the second dose, the likelihood of you getting COVID is 0.5%. That’s amazing. It’s definitely a case to continue to emphasize the importance of people to get vaccinated.”

Hanft says vaccination signups will continue through their website.  “We continue to put out vaccine spots on Friday at 4:30; on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays at 9:00 AM. That works out really well. It lets the person who works during the week access to a clinic spot, a signup point through the weekend, so that’s working out really well.”

Hanft reminds you that if you have any symptoms of COVID, you should get tested.  “Testing has dropped substantially, not in a good way. The amount of tests have dropped by a third in the last two months. That’s something else that we want to make sure we continue to push that people need to make sure that they are still getting tested if they are coming down with symptoms or they’ve been exposed to a known positive case.”

Hanft says there have been COVID case surges in the Midwest and around the country in the last few weeks. “Especially in areas like Michigan, where they are seeing the UK Variant, the B-1-1-7, show up a lot. They have doubled the number of daily cases in the Michigan area. We’re paying attention. There’s surges happening throughout the Midwest.”

The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health website is cghealth.com. Hanft made his comments during today’s meeting of the County Board of Supervisors.