COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, was one of more than a handful of bipartisan governors to meet virtually with President Joe Biden on Tuesday to discuss how to incentivize Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
What You Need To Know
- President Joe Biden met with the governors of Ohio, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico and Utah
- They discussed how to get more people vaccinated
- DeWine stressed to Biden the importance of taking the vaccine into nursing homes and businesses
Biden said of DeWine and the governors from Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico and Utah, “They’re meeting the moment.”
The president and governors discussed the federal government’s and the select state’s efforts to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine as well as solutions on how to get more people vaccinated.
DeWine touted Ohio’s increase in vaccination sites from 650 to 1,900 in the past six months as well as pop-up mobile clinics.
“That’s worked exceedingly, exceedingly well,” DeWine said. “We started early on with pharmacies and we think that has been very important as well as our health departments as well as our federally-qualified clinics and our hospitals.”
DeWine also stressed to Biden the importance of taking the vaccine into nursing homes and businesses.
“They were able to get an uptick that, quite candidly, I don’t think we would’ve gotten any other way,” DeWine said.
DeWine said Ohioans have had more of appetite for the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine while there is also anticipation for 12- to 15-year-olds to get the Pfizer vaccine.
“We’ve got plans in schools,” DeWine said. “We also have plans in the summer with boys clubs, girls clubs, feeding programs and other things trying to take this to where people are.”
Biden was intrigued by Ohio’s effort to use mobile clinics. DeWine said he believes, after visiting dozens of vaccination sites, more people will get the vaccine if they have access.
“It’s not that they’re against getting vaccine, they just haven’t got around to it. So getting that person, getting them the vaccines, make it easy, make it convenient I think is very important,” said DeWine.
Biden said while more than 550,000 people have died from the coronavirus, because of the efforts like DeWine and others, countless lives have been saved.
“I think we’re going to find the lessons you’ve all learned, and we’ve all learned from this, are going to apply to a whole hell of a lot more of what we do in terms of delivering healthcare,” said Biden.
