Ohio Gov. DeWine visits Portsmouth City Health Department

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (WSAZ) - Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine spoke face-to-face with Scioto County residents Wednesday as they were parked in line waiting for their vaccine at the Portsmouth City Health Department.

DeWine spoke with WSAZ during his visit at the Portsmouth City Health Department about vaccination efforts across the state.

The Republican governor recently expanded vaccination availability to those 40 and older, as well as teenagers. It was a decision Kurt Shoemaker says he is looking forward to having his son be a part of.

“The more people that get the vaccine, the more safe my son is,” Shoemaker said.

DeWine says the state now feels prepared to include these age groups, after noticing an issue of leftover vaccines.

“On Monday, we had some health departments who were not filling for that day,” DeWine said.

Getting ready to fill those empty spots, DeWine says as of now the state gets about 400,000 vaccines per week. However, he expects to see an increase.

“Beginning of the week March 29th, when we are going to take off all limitations to those who can get the vaccine, we think we will have about a half a million doses per week then,” DeWine said.

That makes Ohioans like Shoemaker relieved.

“I’m glad that they’ll basically have vaccines available for everybody by the end of the month,” he said.

DeWine says about 2.4 million people have been vaccinated in Ohio so far.

He also says he hopes to see a vaccination approved for children by sometime this fall.

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