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Rebecca Meeker, left, resident of the Crown Pointe Care Center, receives a COVID-19 vaccine from Dr. Kate Latta, PharmD, in Columbus, Ohio.
AP
About 60 percent of Ohio nursing home workers have so far chosen not to have the COVID-19 vaccine, as coronavirus-related deaths have increased in the state.
“We are not going to do them, but we would like them to have a greater compliment,” Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said of the nursing home staff at a news conference on Wednesday, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
“Each one makes their own choice about this, but we want to make it clear that the opportunity may take a while,” said the governor.
The high number of nursing home workers who choose not to have the vaccine occurs at a time when the state is experiencing the deadliest month of the pandemic.
Ohio reported 2,426 COVID-19 deaths in December, the report said. Overall, since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 8,800 people have died from the disease.