VProject seeing some measured success

Jun. 5—When launching the VProject initiative in December, founder Sean Savage set a goal of making Lucas and Wood counties the highest vaccinated populations in the state.

Six months later, that goal has yet to be achieved. About 45 percent of Lucas County's population has received at least one shot, ranking it 15th out of 88 counties, the Ohio Department of Health's dashboard shows. While Wood County ranks in seventh place, with over 50 percent of its residents starting inoculation.

Ohio as a whole, with a vaccination rate of 45 percent, trails the national average of Americans rolling up their sleeves by a significant margin, as well as neighbors Pennsylvania and Michigan.

But the fight for "Victory through Vaccination" isn't over, and what has been achieved is nothing to hang their heads about, Mr. Savage said.

He compared Lucas and Wood Counties' combined case and death rates in January 2021, when the vaccine was just starting to be distributed, to May's numbers and found that cases counts dropped from 8,473 to 1,531, and deaths plummeted from 144 to seven.

"I think [reaching 70 percent vaccination] is still the most widely regarded benchmark and we're still using it, but will that be the ultimate definition of success? It all comes down to knocking out COVID and saving lives," Mr. Savage said. "If the direction of the number of cases and the number of lives saved continues, we could not be happier at what the vaccines are doing. It is nothing short of a miracle."

VProject, funded by private donors, has put $400,000 into educating the community about the safety of the vaccine and encouraging residents to get it. It has hosted discussions with experts, supported clinics, funded media campaigns, set up a call center, and disseminated vaccination pins and bracelets to promote unity.

But recently, it has also become more proactive in taking the vaccine out to the community.

VProject has not only partnered with other agencies to provide residents free transportation to clinics, but it has paid about $100,000 to The Movement to send their teams out into the community doing door-to-door canvassing. The teams help connect residents to vaccinations, especially in low-income neighborhoods where residents may not otherwise seek them out.

Tina Butts, who leads The Movement, says they are still out walking the neighborhoods but the job is getting harder. They recently did a tour of the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority, offering hot dogs and gift cards to those who signed up, but most people shooed them away.

"There are 100-some people living in the complex and we might have got 12 people signed up," she said. "To them, people aren't getting sick. They're not reading the news or looking at The Blade. They don't know what's going on out here in the real world. They think that life has started back to the regular way. They think that they're young and it can't happen to them."

That's not reality, she said. She was personally attending two funerals over the weekend for friends who died from the virus. One was a nail stylist in her 40s.

"This thing ain't gone just because people are taking their masks off," Ms. Butts said.

Like VProject, she's getting creative to think of new ways to reach residents.

This weekend she's launching two new incentives to encourage the vaccine.

The first will be a challenge among barbers and beauty salons. The stylist or barber in each participating shop who gets the most clients signed up for the vaccine will have their booth rent paid for that month.

She also will be tipping $200 per week to the area bartender who signs up the most residents. To sign up to participate, contact Ms. Butt's through her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tinamesley.

Mobile vaccination programs through TARTA and the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department will also continue throughout the summer.

No one is giving up on the goal, Mr. Savage said.

Lucas and Wood counties have a combined average uptake rate of about 47.7 percent, which is higher than the state's average of 45 percent.

And though other communities, like Delaware, Ottawa, Cuyahoga, Erie, Franklin counties may be faring better overall, Lucas is trending higher than Butler County, which is most comparable in population size. Butler's vaccination rate is about 42.7 percent.

"There is still a great deal of work to be done in terms of vaccination rates across our community and we as the VProject are focusing a ton of energy, effort, and resources right now to continue to move that forward," Mr. Savage said.