Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has warned that more than half of employees of nursing homes in the state, about 60%, are refusing to receive the coronavirus vaccine as COVID-19 deaths spike across the country.
"We aren't going to make them, but we wish they had a higher compliance,” DeWine said during a Wednesday press conference, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The governor said that the vaccines will be available in nursing homes on three separate occasions, and that anyone who does not receive a dose during the first visit can still receive one during the second.
"We aren’t going to make them but we wish they had a higher compliance," he said. "Our message today is the train may not be coming back for a while.”
DeWine added, “Everyone makes their own choice about this but we want to make it clear that opportunity may not come back for a while.”
He also said that he wished he could impress a “sense of urgency” for those who are eligible to receive the vaccine, noting that the state is bringing in as many doses as it can as fast as it can.
“While we can’t control how much comes in every week, we certainly can control how fast that we get it out," the governor said. "That is incumbent upon all of us Ohioans to make sure it gets out as fast as we can get it out. It is a lifesaver.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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