Park Record file photo
Rich Bullough, Summit County’s health director and the public official at the center of the county’s pandemic response, has announced he will retire from the Health Department’s top post in August.
“This has been a remarkable honor for me,” Bullough told the Board of Health on Monday. “I’ve been in public health almost 30 years. By far the biggest honor that I’ve had has been in this job and serving this community and, importantly, being part of this team.”
Bullough has served as director since 2010 and told the board he twice delayed his retirement.
Summit County will start administering the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine again on Saturday, May 1, 2021, now that the pause on its use has been lifted.
Vaccinations with Johnson & Johnson were temporarily paused earlier this month while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration studied the possibility of blood clots as a side effect.
The FDA concluded on April 23 that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks and approved it for emergency use.
The agency announced that the vaccine is safe but that health officials should monitor anyone getting the vaccine for blood clots. We have a responsibility to make sure the science is sound, so that people have confidence in the J & J, and all vaccines,” Summit County Health Commissioner Donna Skoda said in a statement.
Health Department to offer walk-in vaccines Wednesday on Main Street parkrecord.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from parkrecord.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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In January, there were 42 diagnosed COVID-19 cases among Summit County residents aged 70 or older, according to county data. In March, that number was zero.
Summit County officials called that statistic “remarkable” and said it shows that vaccines are working.
Summit County Health Director Rich Bullough presented data to the Board of Health Monday night that painted an optimistic picture of the local coronavirus situation
, with high testing numbers, low positivity rates, high vaccine uptake and few new cases.
But the assessment came with a new warning about virus variants that appear to be affecting the youngest members of the community.