Congratulations Chris Zinn
on being named to the West Virginia Executive Health Care Hall of Fame ! Your friends at the Hospice Council of
West Virginia thank you for your leadership and the passion you bring to hospice and palliative care for the Mountain State .
WVE : In your opinion , what will 2021 look like ? Is there light at the end of the tunnel , or should we expect more of the same in terms of limited gatherings , social distancing , masks , etc .?
CM : There is absolutely light at the end of the tunnel , and we are already seeing it with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines . These vaccines are very safe . We know based on our projections that in 2021 , we will be able to vaccinate all West Virginians who will agree to be vaccinated . I hope that is all West Virginians , because ultimately a vaccine is not very powerful — a vaccinated person is very powerful .
We have to understand that if one person is vaccinated and nobody else is , then even though that is generally good at protecting the one person , this is not enough for their community . We are really recommending as people are in the process of getting vaccinated that they would be willing to continue wearing a mask and staying physically distanced . Do all those things until we get more people vaccinated , and then we will be able to ease up .
As we get more people vaccinated , there will be less pressure on the health care systems as well , so these should work together and hopefully start to ease that burden . I think that will be an early sign of that light at the end of the tunnel . If we get 70 % of the population immunized , you will start to see the virus die down . I would hope by summer things will look a lot better . I don ’ t know if it will be all back to normal , but life will be much brighter .
The data suggests that the single most important element in doing well in COVID- 19 is unity . It is really important for us to show our service , altruism , love for each other and love for community , which West Virginians do all the time really well . We are much stronger together than we are separated . That is a key reason , in my opinion , we have fared so well in this pandemic .
WVE : Some West Virginians have concerns about the coronavirus vaccines due to the speed at which they were able to be created , tested and approved and as well as any potentially unknown side effects . What would you say to help dispel their unease ?
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE