Hitzman urges vaccinations
By Terry Murry on Monday, May 3rd, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – Umatilla County Health Officer Dr. Jonathan Hitzman said the people have the power to put COVID-19 restrictions back on the shelf. All they have to do is get vaccinated. He said the vaccines are much safer than those today’s adults received as children.
“And yet, at the end of the day, people are very hesitant because of this new technology which actually doesn’t use any viral particles, except for the Johnson & Johnson,” he said.
COVID-19 is now infecting younger people, and Hitzman said some are saying they don’t mind getting the disease.
“I can guarantee every single person out there, no matter how bad your side effects are to this vaccination, they are going to be far less and far shorter-lived than getting the virus itself,” he said.
He said those people are also not thinking of others.
“Early in this pandemic, we saw a lot of younger people get the virus, take it home, give it to their elderly relatives who ended up dying from it,” he said. “There are some tragic cases, even here in Umatilla County, that we saw.
