VACCINES TO BE OFFERED TO ANDALUSIA STUDENTS NEXT WEEK

It is in the best interest of students to have in-person learning, but the only way to ensure that is possible in the current pandemic is to increase local vaccination rates of students and adults, local pediatricians agreed on Wednesday. 

Dr. Charles Eldridge on Wednesday moderated a discussion with Dr. Bhagwan Bang and Dr. Gabrielle Baldwin that was broadcast on the Andalusia cable access channel and livestreamed on Facebook. 

The three veteran pediatricians said there has been an increase in the number of pediatric cases of COVID-19, especially since late July. The Alabama Department of Public Health does not break out cases by age for general reporting, but data presented on its web site shows that more than 512 cases of COVID have been reported in Covington County since August 3. 

“If we remain on our current trajectory (of positive cases), there is no way we can continue in-person learning all year,” Dr. Baldwin said. “We have a really effective way of combatting the virus with the vaccine.”

Masking and social distancing also help, she said. 

“If we don’t take these steps, we will end up going virtual again,” Baldwin said. “This will have a significant effect on our kids and not in a positive way. Virtual learning is difficult, especially if parents have to work and aren’t able to help their children focus. 

“We’ve seen some patients who were in virtual classes and once they got back to traditional classes they were significantly behind their peers,” she said. “Virtual learning also affects mental health. It is at school they learn to interact with each other and develop a support system.”

Dr. Bang also strongly encouraged vaccination against COVID-19.

“We cannot eradicate the pandemic without vaccination,” he said. “Now that the vaccine is freely available, vaccination should be the primary goal. Vaccinating every teenager should be our first priority.”

Vaccines are approved for ages 12 and older. 

“I was also skeptical at first,” Dr. Bang said. “But after seeing all of the data, I believe it is safe. This vaccine has gone through the same testing as other vaccines. This vaccine is under microscopic scrutiny.”

Without a vaccine, the only way to achieve herd immunity is for more people to be sick with the virus, he said. 

“The natural price we have paid is more than 600,0000 deaths so far,” Dr. Bang said. 

The doctors also agreed that increased vaccinations will provide protections for those younger than 12 for whom the vaccine has not yet been approved. Dr. Bang used the example of a chicken pox vaccine. 

“In 1990, we introduced the chicken pox vaccine,” he said, adding it is not approved for children who are younger than 1. 

“But it not only reduced modality and mortality (from chickenpox) in children less than 1, it also protected adults,” he said. 

The pediatricians also talked about the misconceptions people have about the vaccine, and the fears parents have expressed to them. 

Dr. Baldwin said she hears two things: first, that the vaccine will make recipients test positive, and secondly, that it will cause infertility among young adults, as well as birth defects in their offspring. 

“That is inaccurate,” she said. 

First, the vaccine does not contain live virus, but only a protein, so it is impossible for the vaccine to make the virus replicate, Dr. Baldwin said. 

As for potential infertility, she said she believes that concern is caused because people have heard that RNA, which is a genetic material, is used to get the protein into the body.

“The vehicle of messenger RNA is very rapidly degraded once in it is in the system,” she said, adding that the vaccine cannot alter the DNA of a recipient. 

Both of her children are vaccinated, she said. 

Dr. Bang said that for most, the common side effects of the vaccine would be the same as the side effects for any other vaccine.

“There would be some fever and possible fatigue for a day or two,” he said. “The most significant side effects have been nothing compared to the side effects of the virus.”

All three doctors also said there has been no increase in the infant mortality rate, or in miscarriage, since the vaccine was introduced. However, they said, the virus has been shown to have a high mortality rate for pregnant women, particularly those who contract the virus in the third trimester. They recommended that anyone planning to become pregnant take the vaccine first. 

Vaccines will be offered to students at Andalusia High School and Andalusia Junior High School on Tuesday, August 24. Parental consent will be required, and participants will receive the Phizer vaccine at no cost. Letters explaining the opportunity, as well as consent forms, will be sent home with students this week. 

“I urge all of you to seriously consider getting your children vaccinated,” Dr. Eldridge said. “You don’t have to go to the vaccine. The vaccine is coming to you, and it is at no expense to any family. It’s absolutely free. It may save lives, and it may save a school year.”

The doctors’ entire discussion can be viewed on the Facebook pages of the City of Andalusia or First Baptist Church of Andalusia, who assisted with production. 

Covington County’s total number of COVID cases increased by 214 in the past week, and as of yesterday, there were 34 people hospitalized in Covington County with the virus. Only two of those had been vaccinated. 

State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris told reporters Thursday that 95 percent of the state’s ICU beds are occupied, and he expects them to all be full within the next few days. 

In Andalusia, Brian Springate, interim CEO of Andalusia Health, said almost half of the hospital’s current census has tested positive for the virus. But staff members are able to manage the caseload at this time, he said.

“Andalusia Health’s top priority continues to be protecting the health and safety of our patients, providers, employees and the communities we serve,” Springate said Thursday. “As reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health, cases of COVID-19 increased state-wide and in Covington County over the last several weeks. With the documented increase in confirmed positive cases, hospitals in our region - including ours – have seen an increase in hospitalizations. At this time, nearly half of our inpatients have tested positive for COVID-19, and in the last several weeks, we have had exponential growth in the number of patients we are caring for both in the hospital and through our emergency department.

Springate said the hospital capacity is incredibly fluid and changes rapidly. 

“Our hospital leaders meet daily to discuss hospital operations and current needs,” he said. “We monitor hospital capacity within every department each day, closely tracking fluctuations in emergency, acute and critical care areas and regularly reporting our capacity in these areas to the state and to our regional partners.

“The best defense against COVID-19 is to get a COVID-19 vaccine and encourage everyone you know to get vaccinated,” he said. “At this point, most of the patients we are seeing who are hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. It is also wise to wear a mask, socially distance from others and practice proper hand hygiene to help slow the spread of illness.”

He also had high praise for hospital employees.

“We could not be prouder of our staff members fighting this battle on the front lines. We are well over a year into this pandemic, and their continued commitment to showing up day-in and day-out to serve our patients is nothing short of heroic,” he said. 

The Covington County Health Department will have a walk-in clinic today, Friday, August 13, from 8 a.m. until noon and from 1 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. As he has at several recent vaccine clinics, local florist Alan Cotton, who lost his wife to COVID, will give each person who receives a vaccine a long-stemmed white rose in her memory. 

Vaccines also are available at Walmart, CVS and Walgreens. Watch Andalusia Health’s social media pages for announcements of weekly vaccine clinics. 

Andalusia's Department of Leisure Services is seeking voluntters to coach in the youth soccer league. Particularly, coaches are needed for two divisions:

• MIcro (ages 4-5)

• Division 2 (ages 9-10)

If you are interested, please download the application form here, and return to Johnson Park or email to .

Mayor Earl Johnson on Tuesday joined the We Can Do This Alabama Mayors’ Challenge and challenged other mayors in Covington County and surrounding areas to do the same. 

The initiative is designed to increase the number of vaccinations in the state by 20 percent by Labor Day, which falls on Monday, Sept. 6.

“I gladly accepted this challenge when I heard of it today,” the mayor said. “But in Andalusia, we weren’t waiting for anyone to challenge us. We have been hard at work trying to convince people to become vaccinated.”

Alabama is the least vaccinated state in the nation in the race to defeat COVID-19, and Covington County’s vaccination rate is slightly lower than the state average. 

Last week, the Andalusia City Council unanimously approved a resolution encouraging local residents who had not been vaccinated to take a vaccine. Mayor Johnson had already reinstated a mask requirement for all city buildings.

“I have spoken with physicians who believe the current surge in COVID cases will be worse here than at the height of the pandemic because we have so few people who are vaccinated,” the mayor said. “I have personally lost friends to this virus, and I don’t want anyone else to suffer those losses. We have employees who have lost family members, and some of them have been young family members. This virus is serious, and we need to do everything we can to fight it.

“If the United States and Alabama were being invaded by a foreign country, we would all take up arms and do everything we could to defend our family, friends and way of life,” he said. “The virus is a foreign agent that is threatening the health and welfare of our nation, and we need to work together in the war against it.”

The mayor said that the total number of COVID cases reported in Covington County has increased by 192 in the past week. As of Monday evening, there were 35 people hospitalized with COVID in Covington County, and only two of those had been vaccinated. 

But the mayor said he sees some progress. During the same period of time, there have been 465 doses of the vaccination distributed in Covington County, and the number of completely vaccinated people has increased by 107 to 9,229, or about 24.8 percent of Covington County’s 37,200 residents. 

The mayor expressed his thanks to Alan Cotton, who became a vocal proponent of vaccination after he lost his wife, Angela South Cotton, to the virus in July. She died 10 days after her diagnosis. Mrs. Cotton was not vaccinated because she had allergies to some medications. Alan Cotton has provided long-stemmed white roses in her memory to those who have participated in local vaccine clinics since her death. 

“The seriousness of the virus does not get any more real than what the Cotton family experienced,” Johnson said. “I have personally been asking people I know who have not taken the vaccine to do so. I hope that other will sign up for this challenge and help us improve our vaccination numbers quickly.”

We Can Do This Alabama is a collaborative effort between the Alabama Department of Public Health, the Alabama Hospital Association, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, the Alabama Nursing Home Association, the Alabama Primary Health Care Association, the Alabama Chapter-AAP, the Alabama Council for Behavioral Healthcare, the Alabama State Nurses Association, and the Medical Association of the State of Alabama with the goal of increasing COVID-19 vaccinations in Alabama through a grassroots approach. 

Those who agree to participate in the challenge can sign up at www.WeCanDoThisAlabama.com.