Your Vaccination Station: Highlands Cashiers Hospital

Issue: March-2022

Tom Neal

As the CEO/CNO of Highlands-Cashiers Hospital, I want to reassure you that our hospital is here to care for you as we always have, even amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. 

From unexpected visits to our Emergency Department, to routine check-ups at our primary care locations, we’re here for you. Elective surgeries have also been reintroduced at our hospital and we remain vigilant when it comes to sanitation, screening, visitor restrictions, masking, as well as guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control.

 There’s likely no subject that has been more discussed in recent months than the Covid vaccine. I am grateful that we now have this critical tool, which has been proven to lessen the severity of the virus, lower a patient’s chances of needing to be hospitalized, and reduce the number of Covid-19 deaths.

While there are still members of our community who are not vaccinated, I want to point out how successful we have been in vaccinating our community.

In Macon County, 75.5 percent of the eligible population, five and older, have received at least one dose of vaccine with 60.4 percent  of this group fully being vaccinated. For those over 65, 95 percent of our community has received at least one dose and 83.8 percent are fully vaccinated.

In Jackson County, 76 percent of the eligible population, five and older, have received at least one dose of vaccine with 56% of this group fully vaccinated. For those over 65, 95 percent of our community have received at least one dose and 80.2 percent are fully vaccinated.

Multiple community partners in our area continue to provide Covid-19 vaccinations. These partners include the Cashiers Valley RX, Ingles, and the Macon and Jackson County
Health Departments.

With the attention on the development and rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, it’s easy to forget that people of all ages should be up-to-date on their other vaccines as well.

Though each state determines its own vaccine requirements in order for children to enter public school and daycare, the CDC notes that common immunizations for children from infancy to age six include:

MMR (Measles, mumps, and rubella); Polio (IPV); TDaP (Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis); Hib (Haemophilus influenza type B); RV (Rotavirus); Varicella (Chickenpox); PCV 13 (pneumococcal bacterial diseases); Influenza

Some vaccines are a series of shots that start in infancy, while others should be received annually. When children are 11 or 12, they should receive the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine, which has cut the risk of certain adult cancers significantly, including cervical cancer for women.

Adults should remain vigilant about getting boosters for conditions like MMR and TDaP, as well as yearly flu shots.    

Shingles vaccines are recommended for people 50 and older, and anyone 65 or older should receive the pneumonia vaccine. These are both serious conditions, and shingles is long-lasting and very painful.

Vaccines have long been a controversial topic, but every vaccine is carefully vetted for safety and FDA-approved, or in the case of Covid-19 vaccines, FDA-cleared first, and then approved. Some worry that the Covid-19 vaccines were somehow hurried in their development, but the opposite is true. The medical MRNA technology that’s central to the Covid-19 vaccines was developed over the course of two decades.