CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department is launching a campaign urging people to get the coronavirus vaccine and flu shot amid concerns about a possible “twindemic.”
The Kanawha County Commission approved $100,000 for the Arms Across Kanawha effort during its Sept. 2 meeting. The program comes as coronavirus numbers increase in West Virginia and ahead of flu season. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu activity peaks between December and February.
Dr. Sherri Young, the health department’s interim director, said health officials are confirming more coronavirus cases as people resume normal activities without following protocols like wearing face masks.
“Influenza typically follows the same trajectory,” she said. “If we don’t mask and we don’t vaccinate, we will lose Kanawha County lives.”
Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said health departments and agencies cannot handle two pandemics if there is a sharp rise in flu cases.
“I think that everyone understands it’s going to be more difficult to get people to get the flu vaccine,” he said. “I’ve already had other people tell me, ‘well, I got that other shot you made us take.’ Nobody made anybody take anything.”
Commissioner Lance Wheeler said he does not understand the reluctancy about getting the coronavirus vaccine or flu shot as local health care systems are strained from the pandemic.
“It ponders me when I think about it, of how we can have this conversation today when we have individuals who are in the hospital right now and almost every single one of them are unvaccinated,” he said. “We’re fighting that with COVID, and now we’re having that conversation with the flu vaccine.”
The commission agreed to use federal coronavirus relief funds for the campaign. The Kanawha County Commission received around $17 million in May from the legislation that Congress approved in March.