Officials with the Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District say demand for first COVID-19 vaccine doses has started to taper off.
Dr. Cynthia Morrow -- the district’s director -- says her team has now begun working on reaching various communities that might be hesitant to get a shot.
"So there are so many different barriers and our job will be to try to look at different communities and look at what the barriers are and address those barriers," she explains.
"This is part of what public health does; this is our job, this is our passion. And we will do what we need to do to ensure that people have the tools they need to get vaccinated."
The district has recently brought on new employees and is working with the Virginia Department of Health specifically for those outreach purposes.
Morrow says the district was able to open up some walk-in appointments last week due to the lower demand.
Case counts in the district aren't rising, but they are holding steady.
Morrow says there were 314 new cases over the last week -- which is on par with levels seen in recent weeks.
"The good news is unlike some other parts of the country where they are seeing significant increases, we're just holding steady at this point," she explains. "But, we're holding steady at a case rate that is still too high for us to really let down our guard."
The district has now reported 27 cases among people who have been vaccinated. But, none of those individuals had to be hospitalized.
