Putnam County Health Department Seeks Input from Unvaccinated Residents Written by Putnam County Department of Health The Putnam County Department of Health has launched a COVID-19 vaccine survey to gather feedback from those who remain unvaccinated in the community. Vaccine supplies have increased and now everyone 16 years and older who lives, works, or attends school in New York State is eligible to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine. “The health department wants to make sure that everyone who is eligible has a chance to get a vaccine,” stated Michael J. Nesheiwat, MD, Commissioner of Health for Putnam County. “People may remain unvaccinated due to individual time constraints, lack of access, a limited understanding of the risks of COVID, or just a more general vaccine hesitancy." Dr. Nesheiwat continued, "the results of this survey will be used to guide our department into better focusing on, and addressing, the needs of our unvaccinated citizens. Moreover, our survey results will be shared with the NYSDOH so they will have a better understanding of the concerns of our residents.” Alison Kaufman, DVM, MPH, the department’s epidemiologist, focused efforts to develop the most user-friendly survey possible. “It will be offered in both English and Spanish, and will only take about two minutes to complete,” she said. “We took care to optimize it for a mobile platform as well, in order to reach more people and encourage them to share their thoughts.”