(La Porte, IN) - The COVID-19 vaccination rate in La Porte County continues to inch upward.  La Porte County Health Department Administrator Amanda Lahners during this morning’s La Porte County Commissioners meeting reported the vaccination rate in the county is 44.5-percent.  That’s about four percent higher than it was about two weeks ago.  “We still have a long way to go,” she said.  Lahners said a 70-percent vaccination rate is needed to achieve herd immunity.

During the meeting, Dr. Vidya Kora said the rate would be higher if fewer people were hesitant about taking the vaccine.  Kora, who has a medical practice in Michigan City, said he hasn’t seen one COVID-19 patient in the past two months that has been vaccinated.  He indicated that what they're seeing now is thatnNon-vaccinated individuals are winding up in the hospitals and sometimes battling the long term effects of the virus.

Kora also advised people not to believe the myths about the vaccine which he believes has contributed to the hesitancy about receiving it.