Our investigation found:
- Statewide, 60% of eligible Ohioans are fully vaccinated. But ZIP codes within our region range from below 30% to 79% vaccinated.
- Overall, vaccination trends tend to correlate with other factors related to health outcomes, such as poverty and education.
- The vaccination rate for white residents is higher than for Black residents in area counties and across Ohio, while Black Ohioans who get COVID-19 disproportionately end up hospitalized. Dr. Terry Moncrief, a Southwest Ohio allergy doctor, said she constantly runs into vaccine concerns. She sees both rural and minority patients at particular risk from COVID-19.
- Rural counties with the lowest vaccination rates have seen the most deaths per 100,000 residents; meanwhile the counties with the highest vaccination rates have seen the lowest deaths per capita.
Moncrief said she constantly runs into vaccine concerns. She sees both rural and minority patients at particular risk from COVID-19 because of issues like asthma and obesity.
“Early on, it was more of the vaccine was rushed and there was not enough research that had been done on the vaccine. There were some concerns about conspiracy theories very early on,” she said “But now what I’m hearing more of is people have a false sense of their risk being lower than it likely truly is.”
The vaccination map follows the same patterns as other maps of health outcomes — with lower socio-economic areas facing disproportionate risk.
For example, none of the 10 ZIP codes with the highest poverty levels had vaccination rates above 50%. Most of the 10 ZIP codes with the lowest poverty levels were at least 60% vaccinated.
Likewise educational attainment correlates with vaccination rates. Most of the ZIP codes with the highest percentages of college graduates have vaccination rates over 70%. Most of those with the lowest percentage of college grads have rates under 45%.
“(The numbers) are a little disheartening,” said Montgomery County Health Commissioner Jennifer Wentzel. “We want to have our vaccination numbers more than what the state average is of course, and getting vaccines in the community is very important. That’s why we’ve had very deliberate efforts over the past year to make that happen.”
The racial divide
Statewide, 42% of eligible Black residents are vaccinated compared to 53% of white residents and the disparity plays out locally.
“We are becoming instruments of our own destruction because of messaging,” said the Rev. Benjamin Speare-Hardy of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Trotwood, a majority Black congregation in a majority black town.
Speare-Hardy and other area pastors have worked with public health officials to increase vaccination rates in the community, offering vaccines at church and doing a podcast. But he said the young population is particularly hesitant.
Prominent, respected members of the community should continue being vocal about why they are vaccinated and encourage others to do so, Speare-Hardy said.
“We have to lead by example,” he said. “We have to keep preaching and fighting against the hesitancy.”
Fabrice Juin, project manager for the Dayton & Montgomery County Local Office of Minority Health, said discrepancies in health issues between ZIP codes is not a new phenomenon.
“When you consider the different struggles that people go through, for most, COVID-19 is not the No. 1 crisis that they’re going through in life in terms of making sure they can make ends meet,” he said.
Howard Rucker, a 40-year-old phlebotomist at Miami Valley Hospital who is Black and lives in the 45417 ZIP code, said he was initially unsure about getting the shot. But after witnessing so many unvaccinated people die from COVID because they didn’t get the shot, he said it was common sense.
Rucker said people in his community are scared and lack definitive information about coronavirus vaccines. He agrees that hearing from other people who are vaccinated might convince people.
“Proof. Something that I do when people ask me did I get the vaccine, I keep my vaccination card with me and I show them,” he said.
Credit: Jordan Laird
Credit: Jordan Laird
Survey: Why people forgo jab
Respondents to a survey asking people why they haven’t gotten vaccinated don’t believe the vaccine is safe or effective. Many believe the media and government are underplaying the dangers of the vaccines and overplaying the risk of COVID-19. Many also point out that people who are vaccinated are getting COVID.
These sentiments were shared by many people coming and going from the BMV in downtown Franklin, where fewer than half of eligible residents are vaccinated.
“You don’t know what the side effects are going to be. It could be years before you know the side effects,” said Mark Jewett.
Jewett said his doctor encourages the vaccine, but he is still worried about it. Like most people interviewed in Franklin and who responded to the survey, he has zero trust in the government. Many people said they trust no one but themselves.
Patricia Scott said she was concerned about things she read online and heard from people about the vaccine. But she ended up getting it because her doctor said she should because of other health issues.
“Once my heart doctor and my primary care signed off that I could get it, I really didn’t have a choice,” she said.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
The rural divide
Craig Carafa is the owner and pharmacist at Saint Paris Pharmacy, which serves two of the lowest vaccinated ZIP codes in rural Champaign County where the rates are 33% and 38%.
“It’s heartbreaking for me, as both a pharmacist and a member of the community,” he said of the resistance he hears to the vaccine.
“The amount of people recently we’ve done some vaccinations for is because they know someone who unfortunately has passed away from it,” he said.
He said he talks to people about the science showing the vaccines are safe and effective. He respects his customers’ freedom to choose if they want it or not, but worries about those who are vulnerable and refuse.
“All I can do is offer the opportunity and go to your house to do it, and we will,” he said.
Of the 17 ZIP codes with vaccination rates under 40%, 14 are in rural Darke and Preble counties.
Darke County Health Commissioner Terrence Holman said they offer several vaccine locations and try to address misinformation. They plan to start posting educational billboards and offering clinics in Bradford and Union City, where $100 cash cards will be offered.
“We are a very rural, conservative county. People don’t feel as at risk due to being so spread out,” he said.
Adjusted for population, however, Preble and Darke counties have the highest numbers of deaths from COVID-19 in the region per 100,000 residents, according to a Dayton Daily News analysis of Ohio Department of Health data.
Who to trust
Politics plays a muddying role as well. People interviewed often invoke their dislike and mistrust of President Joe Biden.
Warren and Butler counties, however, which are staunchly conservative and voted for Trump by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in 2020, have the highest countywide vaccination rates. They also have the lowest number of COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population.
Trump himself received vaccines and booster shots, and he has expressed frustration with people not giving his administration enough credit for developing the vaccines.
Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones, a 2016 Trump delegate and vocal conservative, said he took heat recently for releasing a video urging people to take precautions to protect themselves against COVID-19.
Jones said three of his employees have died from COVID. And in the first month of this year, the 70 cases among his staff are almost as much as the 80 cases each of the previous full years.
Jones said he was vaccinated last year after his antibodies from having COVID previously started declining. He said anti-vaccine people he knows are smart, hard-working people with good reasons not to trust the government and understandably not wanting to be told what to do.
“Here’s what I tell them: It’s your choice. I got my shots. It’s up to you,” he said. “I don’t get my medical advice from any politician, I get my medical advice from my doctor.”
Joyce Patrick, 82, who has lived and operated a business in Trenton for more than 50 years, said she has received two vaccination and one booster shot. When considering whether to get vaccinated, she said those who developed the medicine --- she called them “masterminds” – did enough research and development to gain her trust.
“It comes down to common sense,” Patrick said.
She has been exposed to those who tested positive for COVID-19 at least twice, and she never got the virus, she said.
“That proved it to me,” she said.
Her son, who refused to be vaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19 and got seriously ill. He now has been vaccinated, he said.
“He learned,” Patrick said.
Jordan Flavin, 29, a mother of three children, ages 3, 7 and 8, said since she works in the healthcare industry, she was required to be vaccinated. Even without the work requirement, Flavin said she would have chosen to get the vaccine.
