May 18, 2021 / 08:39 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) A researcher conducting a vaccination survey told News 8 that, for Indiana to reach herd immunity, schools will need to require children to be vaccinated.
His question to parents: Will you vaccinate your children or not?
Sheri Kelso says she has three school-age children, none of whom have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“If I can find a site that has available time slots, probably yes,” said Kelso.
This answer is exactly what Dr. Nir Menachemi of the Richard Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI is hoping to hear.
“For every adult that isn’t vaccinated, the large group of children that are still susceptible will always be a threat to the health of Hoosiers, so all paths to herd immunity include vaccinating a maximum number of children,” said Menachemi.
Dec 23, 2020 / 06:35 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) This week, COVID-19 cases leveled off in Indiana, but health professionals warn if Hoosiers let down their guard for the holidays and continue to travel and have large family gathering, record numbers of positive cases and deaths could develop.
COVID-19 cases were already on the rise prior to Thanksgiving. The surge in numbers was partially hidden by an increase in community spread.
Thomas Duszynski of the Richard Fairbanks School of Public Health said if people continue to ignore warnings from health professionals, a record number of cases could be ahead. “I think we are going to go back to those 6,000, 7,000, 8,000 cases a day, where we were before unfortunately, and to be a little bit grimmer unfortunately, we are going to hit 10,000 more deaths in the state of Indiana by the end of January.”