When the COVID-19 vaccines first became available, there was a rush to get shots into arms. However, there has been a recent slow down in the number of people choosing to get vaccinated.

Greene County Public Health Director Becky Wolf says near the end of June, the county-wide vaccination rate was less than 50-percent, and of those who were 65 and older were over 80-percent, while those 12-18 years old were under 20-percent fully vaccinated. She attributes the slowdown of vaccinations to several factors, including a low positivity rate and number of new positive cases, changing mask guidelines and more large-scale activities opening again, which she feels wasn’t unexpected.

“I feel like probably a lot of that is that people, they want to move on, right? They want to move on with their lives and they don’t want to have to think about COVID anymore. Would I like to see these numbers be higher in some of these groups? Absolutely, especially the kids.”

Wolf continues to encourage those who are eligible and have yet to get a COVID-19 vaccine to get one. She adds, public health has vaccines available, as well as other providers in the county, many now accepting walk-ins.