As vaccination efforts continue to climb toward herd immunity, there may still be some who are hesitant on receiving a vaccination. 

Guthrie County Public Health Director Jotham Arber says for those who may be hesitant on receiving a vaccination there has been a steep drop off of cases of COVID-19 since Guthrie County was able to begin vaccinations earlier this year. 

“The one thing that I would say to individuals that are still hesitant is we have given out millions and millions of doses of vaccine, across the U.S. and we have given out thousands here. These vaccines are very safe and they are very effective at what they do.”

Arber tells Raccoon Valley Radio that Iowans should be fortunate to be able to have vaccines available across the state and country. 

“It’s safe, you can see the data, it’s everywhere. It’s a great thing that we have these vaccines because there are places in the world that they don’t have these vaccines and they are seeing huge outbreaks and it’s causing lots of destruction. We have the vaccine available here, we can do that for our community and we can make sure that we don’t see those types of things come back around and get us here in Guthrie (County).”

There are vaccinations currently authorized for all those over the age of 12.