Vaccination rates in Tennessee stagnate as delta expands

Rowland has worked with Covid patients for a year and a half and has not contracted the virus. Brian raises chickens for a living and sees no point in getting vaccinated. “I don’t work with people – ever,” he said. They both believe the media have exaggerated the threat of the coronavirus.

The Rowlands aren’t swayed by politics and don’t care what Republicans or Democrats have to say about the shootings. They know people who have been vaccinated and they are not there to convince family and friends in one way or another.

“If people want to get it, they should get it,” said Ashley Rowland, who approaches the subject with some apathy.

If her sons, Matthew, 15, and Benjamin, 13, wanted to be vaccinated, she would let them. She said she didn’t think Fiscus should have been fired.

Steve Rockmaker, 77, of Knoxville, felt stronger. He said the reaction to Fiscus’ note was “horrible”.

“I’m worried about the delta variant,” said Rockmaker, who said he “skipped” the opportunity to get the vaccine, which allowed him to pursue more activities, such as visiting Dollywood.

The same goes for Tuesday Willemain, who owns a salon in Nashville and was at the theme park with two fully vaccinated friends. Willemain, 30, works close to all of his clients and was eager to get the vaccine. She said she thought it was “crazy” that the state stopped reaching out to young people.

“It’s our best way to keep the virus at bay,” she said.

Kimberly Gadd, 49, of Alexandria, Ky., Will not get the vaccine, but is heartbroken that children are being immunized without parental consent.

“As a parent it would be difficult for me,” she said. “But I don’t know if anyone deserved to be fired.”

Gadd, a special education teacher, had Covid just before Thanksgiving. “I was sicker,” she said. “I have a good immune system.”

Her husband, who suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, was vaccinated in part because he feared their 11-year-old son, Wesley, would bring the virus home. Still, Gadd said she didn’t think there had been enough research on injections and that she was worried about side effects. She also doesn’t like being told what to do. “If I have to wear a mask at school because I am not vaccinated, I will wear it,” she said. If school required her to be vaccinated to come back, she would consider quitting.

Gadd would prefer her son not be vaccinated when he is eligible and has said she has no reason to expect conflict over this.

Wesley, waiting for his favorite ride in the park to open, said, “I don’t trust what’s in the vaccine. I’ve heard of people who have blood clots.”

Kevin Faraco, 43, who works at two restaurants just outside Dollywood, doesn’t want any clichés either.

He has lived and worked at Pigeon Forge for 23 years and has never seen it so busy. “We have been run over by people,” he said during a cigarette break.

Because he has never been sick with the Covid, he is not particularly worried. His colleague, some of whose family members have died from Covid, feels the same.

“I feel like no matter what, we are always trying to scare people,” he said.

Faraco, who has no children, said that if he had a child who was very keen on getting the vaccine, “I would let them, whether I believe it or not.”

And there is no doubt that many young people feel strongly in one way or another.

“I’ve talked about this with most, if not all of my friends. We all agreed that at our age it’s not sure,” said Elijah Davis, 16, who was visiting the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. , with his father. While Davis’ parents are both vaccinated, they want to wait to vaccinate their two boys. They do not believe that minors should be able to make vaccination decisions without parental consent.

Davis, from Spring Hill, Tennessee, took to YouTube to research the vaccines and said they were actually official government videos of the shots that persuaded him not to get the shot – the Responses from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to concerns “were” t as firm as they should have been, ”he said.

Best friends Short and Nelson switch sides on the subject of parental consent. Short, who is vaccinated, believes teens shouldn’t be able to get vaccinated without parental approval. Nelson, who is unvaccinated, believes adolescents should be able to make the “personal choice” for themselves.

Nelson said there was one thing that could make her change her mind about getting stung, and it wasn’t Dolly Parton: if the university required all students to be vaccinated.

“I wouldn’t like that. I would be a little scared,” she said. “But if that meant not going to college, I would understand.”