About three-quarters of senior citizens in Berkeley County – those aged 65 and over – have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19, Roper St. Francis Healthcare chief operations officer told members of the US Senate Special Committee on Aging. during a hearing on Thursday.
This is considerably higher than the state average. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 58% of elderly people aged 65 and over across the state are still not fully vaccinated.
To address this disparity, Roper St. Francis COO Anthony Jackson told U.S. senators that the hospital system he runs in Lowcounty set up a pop-up drive-thru vaccine clinic in Berkeley County this week.
“Vaccine drive-thru centers can play a key role in expanding our vaccination campaign beyond urban areas to reach a population that is often left behind,” said Jackson. “Communities and states must be proactive and creative in reaching out to residents who cannot be vaccinated through more traditional visits to hospitals and doctors’ offices, and our drive-thru vaccination post would be a great model for others to follow.”
His comments were made during a Senate hearing on “COVID-19, a year later: meeting the health needs of Americans at risk.”
Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC, a senior committee member, thanked Jackson for his “continued efforts” to make the coronavirus vaccine accessible to residents in rural areas of the state.
Scott acknowledged that vaccine uptake among black and Hispanic populations is “less than we want” and rural residents need better access to vaccines.
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