BUTTE — The once strong momentum that Butte-Silver Bow saw in getting people vaccinated earlier this year is quickly grinding to a halt and that has health officials concerned.
“I think there’s a lot of vaccine hesitancy in Butte. People nervous to get the shot at all, some people don’t believe in any type of vaccine and so they don’t feel confident in this vaccine,” said Operations Manager with the Butte Health Department Diane Regan.
With 57 percent of the Butte-Silver Bow residents vaccinated, the county ranks second in the state for most vaccinated people. But officials want everyone vaccinated.
“People aren’t in the hospital fighting for their life because they got a vaccine. They’re fighting for their life because they got COVID,” said Regan.
To encourage more vaccinations, the county started a vaccination sweepstakes funded by Town Pump that gives away two $10,000 cash prizes and three $5,000 cash prizes each week by a random drawing of all the fully vaccinated people in the county.
“Your odds of winning money are very good, we have 12 more weeks of drawings that are going to happen. You come in and get your J&J shot, you’re eligible for the Thursday drawing next week,” said Regan.
And another reason to get your free vaccination is so that we can get back to some sort of normalcy, hang out again, and safely socialize.
“We never want to be where we can’t enjoy people’s company again. I went to Music on Main last week and it was packed. Let’s have a great fall, let’s go watch football and soccer and be part of everything that’s happening because we know what it’s like when you can’t do it,” she said.
