Millennials falling behind in Renfrew County COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Posted Jun 25, 2021 04:00:00 PM.
Residents born between the early '80s and early 2000s, within in the Renfrew County and District Health Unit (RCDHU), are falling behind in the local COVID-19 vaccine rollout, but Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Cushman says it's not necessarily due to vaccine hesitancy.
“Well, hesitancy is the nearest, in combination,” he explains. “I think; one, the age group is hard to reach; [and] two, yes there's probably some hesitancy because they don't think they're really going to get sick, although the variants are disproving that and all of this trash on social media, especially about the vaccines, it really doesn't help.”
Right now, only about 50 per cent of millennials have received a first dose of vaccine in the RCDHU, while 60 per cent of residents between the ages of 12 and 18 have had their first shots.
“What makes this worse is that we're now seeing that [millennials are] the majority of our cases. They have been since the start of the year,” Dr. Cushamn says.
In the month of July, the health unit will be launching a public outreach campaign to try get through to this cohort, including accepting walk-ins at county clinics and setting up a number pop clinics across the county in areas frequented by millennials.