Rose urges vaccination amid surge

Sep. 9—Congressman John Rose wants people to know that COVID-19 vaccinations are safe and effective in helping curb the virus currently surging in Tennessee.

"I have been vaccinated early in the process, and I had a good experience with that," Rose said during a Zoom call concerning his Health Care Listening Tour on Aug. 30. "That is really the key to getting COVID under control. We've unfortunately seen how short we've come getting enough of our population vaccinated."

He encouraged anyone who has not been vaccinated to speak with their health care provider.

"Far and away, it is the best way to avoid the spread of COVID-19," Rose said.

Rose said he believes the vaccines are safe and effective.

"We're very fortunate as a country that in the short span of seven or eight months we were able to develop not one, not two, but three highly effective vaccines that are safe," Rose said.

Tennessee is reporting at least 50.6% of residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine while 42.6% of residents are fully vaccinated. Two of the three vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, require two shots given three to four weeks apart.

In Cumberland County, the numbers are lower, with 43.76% of residents with at least one dose of the vaccine and 37.63% of residents fully vaccinated.

Rose said he was part of the "vaccine generation," born in 1965 when many vaccines were available for diseases that had once threatened the lives of young people.

"I was fortunate to receive vaccines for many of the childhood diseases that were epidemic proportion prior to my time. My three older siblings all suffered through all the childhood diseases: measles, mumps. I experienced none of those. My generation escaped much of the harm of those diseases. I think it's a testament to the miracle of modern health care and science that these vaccines are delivered," Rose added.

Pfizer recently received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its vaccine, now marketed as Comirnaty. Rose said he believed that approval underscored the safety protocols in place in the U.S. for development and approval of vaccines.

"That should put people's fears to rest about the safety of the vaccines," he said.

There were 794 active cases of COVID-19 in Cumberland County on Tuesday, the most recent data available from the Tennessee Department of Health at press time. To date, 168 Cumberland County residents have died, an increase of 14 deaths since Sept. 4.

Schools have seen increasing numbers of cases among students since school began in early August. On Sept. 3, Director of Schools Ina Maxwell reported there were 246 students and 25 staff members with COVID-19. There were another 467 students and 15 staff members in quarantine due to exposure the virus.

Cumberland Medical Center on Wednesday reported there were 49 patients either confirmed or suspected of having COVID-19, with 37 confirmed cases. There were 10 patients in the intensive care unit. The hospital reported 92% of all COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated and 100% of ICU patients are unvaccinated.

Rose has launched a Health Care Listening Tour in the 6th Congressional District. He kicked the tour off with a tour of Cooke-ville Regional Medical Center followed by a meeting of the 6th District Community Pharmacy Advisory Council aimed at supporting independent community pharmacies in Tennessee. He also met with local leaders and representatives of University of Tennessee Medical Center, which recently received a Certificate of Need to establish a stand-alone emergency department for Fentress County. The hospital serving the community closed in June 2019.

"As I travel throughout Middle Tennessee, I had the opportunity to speak with many people who are worried about the future of our nation's health care. Our local health care centers work tirelessly to provide treatments and services to our communities; however, hospital closures continue to be a problem in our area. I will continue to fight to keep providers in our rural communities and secure the best health care for all Tennesseans by lowering health care costs for hardworking families, all while expanding health care choices."

Rose noted several communities in his district are without hospitals. The district stretches from Robertson County north of Nashville east to Fentress County along the Kentucky border, and dips to include Coffee and Cannon counties.

He planned to continue the listening tour with meetings with representatives of the Vanderbilt Medical Center health care network, which operates hospitals in Middle Tennessee.

Area hospitals, along with many health care systems in the state, are struggling to serve patients as the virus continues to spread.

Local health care officials have noted hospitals will likely need additional financial support to overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 surge. Many hospitals have struggled with staffing and have announced the suspension of elective procedures to ensure staff is available to serve critically ill patients.

"We plan to roll up our sleeves and get to work on helping make sure, from the federal level that we're providing assistance to front-line health care workers to ensure they have the support financially for providing these services and making sure they have the supplies and equipment they need," Rose said.

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.