Missouri mayor says solution to COVID-19 surge is vaccination

The mayor of Springfield, Mo., said on Sunday that the solution to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases is for people to get vaccinated. 

“We know what the solution is. It’s vaccination. People need to get it. It’s readily available,” Ken McClure (I) told host John Dickerson on CBS’s “Face The Nation.” 

“We have so many sites that can still provide that service. The age groups are now all encompassing down to age 12. So it gets down to the community leaders, the community institutions that people trust saying you have to get vaccination. That’s the only way that we are going to emerge from this,” he added. 

McClure also noted that community collaboration is important to have success in battling the surge.

“We know what the solution is: it’s vaccination,” Springfield, MO Mayor Ken McClure tells @jdickerson, as his community contends with a COVID-19 case surge. “People need to get it. It’s readily available. The age groups are now all-encompassing down to age 12.” pic.twitter.com/00XDzxvvG4

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 18, 2021

The mayor’s remarks come as the country is experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases driven by the more contiguous delta variant. 

Missouri on Sunday reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth straight day, according to KMBC in Kansas City, which added that state officials said on Friday that 45.1 percent of the population has been vaccinated.

When asked on Sunday about schools districts mandating vaccination for students going back to the classroom, McClure said that the school district in Springfield will make sure its students are safe. 

“I know our school district is strongly encouraging that vaccinations occur. They’ll be doing that, I think , as students come back in the fall and to urge their parents to do that,” McClure told Dickerson. 

“But I have ever confident that the Springfield Public School District will take the appropriate steps to make sure students are as safe as can be. I know they want to focus on the in-person learning, and I believe that they’ll be able to do that,” he added.