ICYMI: Leader Sykes pens column calling on Gov. DeWine to lean on medical experts to get more Ohioans vaccinated

House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron) penned an OpEd in the Columbus Dispatch this week in which she called on Governor DeWine to combat vaccine hesitancy and increase access for vulnerable population

Full text of Leader Sykes’ Columbus Dispatch OpEd: Vax-A-Million no silver bullet. DeWine needs to lean on the experts.

“All of this isn’t to say Vax-a-Million failed. Instead, it further exposed what we already knew — that we’ve got our work cut out for us, and it will take more than monetary incentives to get the job done,” wrote Leader Sykes. 

“We need to target campaigns to higher-risk populations, reduce vaccine hesitancy and boost vaccination rates for the most vulnerable Ohioans.

“These are the things House Democrats have been pushing from the very start of this pandemic, and the exact things the Biden Administration is promoting in its ‘We Can Do This’ Month of Action.”

Ohio’s vaccination rate has consistently lagged behind the national average, including neighboring state, such as Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Nearly 54% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to just 47% of Ohioans. 78% of Ohioans on Medicaid, 70% of Black Ohioans, and 62% of Latinx Ohioans still have not been vaccinated.