Seventy-five percent of Lexington adults, age 18 and older, are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 73.7% of residents age 12 and older are also fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“These are important milestones to be celebrated by our entire community,” Mayor Linda Gorton said. “I’m so proud of our residents, who continue to do what they can to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. The Lexington community has pulled out all the stops to encourage people to get the vaccine because it saves lives!”
Lexington has worked together to fight COVID-19, Gorton said. “We have had tremendous support from partners all over town,” she said.
One of those partners is Cornett, a local creative marketing agency. “Cornett helped us build public trust for the vaccine through the ‘Lex Do This’ campaign, which continued from February through May. The campaign exceeded the goals set for it. It’s one of the main reasons we have the vaccine numbers we have today,” Gorton said.
The City even went door-to-door to encourage residents to get vaccinated, Gorton said. The canvassing campaign reached 9,587 doors, and nearly 800 residents were vaccinated at accessible clinics. The program held 13 clinics in locations such as the Centro de San Juan Diego on Alexandria Drive, Kirklevington Park off Tates Creek Road, and William Wells Brown Elementary School in the East End neighborhood.
“The goal of this program was to bring the vaccine to areas that need easy access, and to bring credible information about the vaccine to residents who may have been on the fence about getting vaccinated,” Gorton said. “Our staff and our volunteers had lots of great conversations with residents and changed some minds along the way.”
The canvassing is now continuing under a new roof, with Wild Health taking the lead. Staff who ran the program under the LFUCG umbrella will transition to Wild Health and continue to go door to door to encourage people to get the vaccine, while also taking on some new duties.
