Porter County is set to get almost $886,000 in grant money to help fight COVID-19, but creating the necessary funds to allow the county to spend it was met with some opposition. The Porter County Health Department is asking county officials to set up three funds: one for grants pertaining to immunization and vaccines for children, another for grants related to testing, and a third for grants to provide schools with extra nursing help for things like vaccination and health screenings.
During a public hearing on the funds' establishment last week, Valparaiso resident Penny Kuzmich voiced her opposition. "Anybody that would want to go and vaccinate children and actually enable these funds to be used, there's something wrong with that," Kuzmich told the county commissioners.
But the commissioners stressed that the decision to vaccinate is still up to parents. "This has nothing to do with any kind of mandatory [vaccination]. This is totally up to the parents," said Commissioner Jim Biggs.
"This is creating a fund. That's all this is. It just creates a fund that if the money comes in, you have a place to put it," added Commissioner Jeff Good.
Health Department Administrator Letty Zepeda said the money to help with schools isn't just for flu and COVID vaccinations but also to provide quarterly vision and dental screenings, among other uses. "It's to provide whatever assistance the schools need, the nurses need. And it's not to promote, encourage vaccines," she said.
Zepeda said the number one priority is to make sure kids are safe and healthy.
