Gov. DeWine considering other vaccine incentives

Inoculations lagging in 21-30, 31-39 age groups

With the Vax-a-Million drawings over, Gov. Mike DeWine said he's considering other possibilities to entice Ohioans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

"People might be also incentivized by smaller prizes, but more," DeWine said Thursday. "That was something that certainly has been pointed out to us as a possibility. We'll see."

The state gave away $1 million and college scholarships for five straight weeks, ending Wednesday.

The program initially increased the number of people getting vaccinated, but that quickly ended. The state exceeded 10,000 people starting the vaccination process three times since June 5, according to Ohio Department of Health statistics.

Most days in March and early April exceeded 50,000 vaccinations, including two that were more than 100,000.

"The question I ask every day (is) how do we get more people vaccinated?" DeWine said.

He again encouraged those who haven't been vaccinated to do it.

It's particularly an issue with younger people, between the ages of 12 to 40, and more specifically between 18 and 35, DeWine said.

ODH statistics show 39.22 percent of those between 20 and 29 and 46.21 percent of those between 30 and 39 at least have started the vaccination process in comparison to more than 80 percent of those 65 and older.

"Ohio is still losing approximately 100 Ohioans a week to COVID-19, and deaths are shifting to a younger age group," DeWine said. "During the winter surge, more than half of the people who died were 80 or older. Today, 40- to 79-year-olds make up more than 65 percent of Ohio deaths."

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, ODH's chief medical officer, said: "We're not out of the woods. Losing 100 people per week from a virus that's preventable is tragic."

COVID-19 DATA

The 303 new cases Thursday is down from the daily average of 315 for the past 21 days, according to the ODH. There were only seven total new cases Thursday in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties combined.

The state had a total of 1,110,000 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 1,082,058 presumed recovered.

The ODH provides death information on Tuesdays and Fridays. There were 20,213 deaths as of Tuesday.

Mahoning County had 22,392 total COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 21,609 presumed recovered and 602 deaths, according to the ODH.

Trumbull County had 16,562 total COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 15,935 presumed recovered and 483 deaths.

Columbiana County had 9,040 total COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 8,773 presumed recovered and 230 deaths.

VACCINATIONS

There were 5,536,519 people, 47.36 percent of the state's population, who at least had started getting inoculated as of 6 a.m. Thursday, including 8,951 in the previous 24 hours, according to the ODH.

In Mahoning County, 46.08 percent of the population (105,369 people) had received at least one dose, while 43.79 percent of the population in Trumbull County (86,695 people) and 37.17 percent in Columbiana County (37,865 people) had as of 6 a.m. Thursday, according to the ODH.

There were 5,095,794 people, 43.59 percent of the state's population, who finished the vaccinations as of 6 a.m. Thursday, including 14,504 in the prior 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 41.8 percent of the population (95,600 people) had completed the process, while 39.46 percent of the population in Trumbull (78,118 people) and 34.57 percent of the population in Columbiana (35,224 people) had as of 6 a.m. Thursday.

dskolnick@vindy.com