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Despite the Pause, Johnson & Johnson is Popular in Rock Island

Marianna Bacallao, WVIK News

With the demand for COVID-19 vaccines declining, the Rock Island County Health Department is trying to make it easier for residents to get vaccinated. Today, the mass vaccination clinic in Milan will accept walk-ins until 4 p.m. 

 
David Keesecker of Moline went this morning to get his shot. 

 
“I got Johnson & Johnson," he says. "Because I was not good at scheduling for the other doses, but then my grandfather showed me that this was available, so I did this.” 

 
Keesecker isn’t alone. While the clinic is offering both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, Chief Operating Officer Janet Hill says more people are choosing Johnson & Johnson. 

 
“The Johnson & Johnson is just not widely available yet. You have to remember, it was the third to get emergency use authorization, so production hasn’t ramped up. You know, the entire state of Illinois was only getting a very small allotment this last week.”  
 
As of this afternoon, there have been 64 cases of COVID-19 reported in Rock Island County, compared to nine yesterday. Hill says upwards of 75% of the population needs to be vaccinated before the Quad Cities reaches herd immunity. That number is currently 27%.  

 

Marianna Bacallao is WVIK Quad Cities NPR's 2020-2021 Fellowship Host/Reporter. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mercer University's Center for Collaborative Journalism and served as Editor-in-Chief for the student newspaper, The Cluster.
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