Last week was the anniversary of the advent of the coronavirus in Pine Bluff and in Arkansas. For much of the past 12 months, most people were playing defense: avoiding crowds, wearing masks, fervently washing hands, etc. All the while, we watched the tumult going on around the state, country and world. That was a very helpless feeling.
Now, that helpless feeling is lifting. To extend the sports analogy, there is some offense going on. People are rolling up their sleeves and getting shots.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson was in town last week to commemorate the anniversary, and during his talk, he said that 18% of Arkansans had received a first dose of vaccine. Overall, close to 10% of residents are fully vaccinated.
The Pine Bluff area is definitely a part of that success story.
As the letter-writer from Malvern, across this page, said, a thank you goes to Doctor’s Orders Pharmacy for the swift and efficient handling of a lot of the burden of getting shots out.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The pharmacy was in action again last week at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, knocking out a few hundred more first-dose shots, now accommodating the ever-expanding groups of individuals who qualify for the vaccine.
A shout-out also goes to Jefferson Regional Medical Center, which has steadily been holding shot clinics and spreading the fix for this viral menace, and to the Walmart Pharmacy here in Pine Bluff that is eagerly administering shots. And let’s not forget the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aggressively doing the same for our veterans.
The endgame of this — getting shots out to the public — looked fuzzy not that long ago. But with the help of the Arkansas Health Department and others, these health entities have been able to step up and get shots out to the masses in pretty short order.
Arkansas is not doing as well as some states in the percentage of residents who have gotten the shots, but it’s making solid progress.
That doesn’t mean you can burn your masks. As infectious-disease czar Dr. Anthony Fauci said, we’ll get there, but let’s be safe about it and make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves and give covid any chance for a resurgence.
Follow the science.