Walk-ins will be welcome at a Washington County vaccination clinic on Thursday and Friday, state and local officials have announced, in the latest attempt to entice as many Pennsylvanians as possible to get the covid-19 vaccine and inch society toward herd immunity.

“We need to make sure the demand stays there,” said Gov. Tom Wolf, noting that about half of the state’s eligible population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. “We need to keep moving through that.”

Wolf spoke alongside state Rep. Tim O’Neal, R-Washington, and Brook Ward, chief executive of Washington Health System. It was one of two stops Wolf made Wednesday to discuss vaccine availability and plans to combat hesitancy among those yet to be vaccinated.

The walk-in clinics are not limited to Washington County residents.

“To the people who are just too busy or have too many worries, I hope we can help alleviate some of those burdens,” Wolf said. “Right here at Washington, they’re trying to do that by allowing for walk-ins Thursday and Friday.”

The clinic will be held at the former Ross department store in Washington Crown Center Mall on West Chestnut Street from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

O’Neal said the overarching goal is to make it as easy as possible for anyone who wants the vaccine to get it.

In Washington County, one of the 48 counties in the state classified as rural, a little over 54% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to Department of Health data. That means around 60,600 residents are fully vaccinated and about 37,500 are partially vaccinated.

In Greene County, to the south of Washington, only about 40% of residents have received any dose of the vaccine. In Fayette, that number is about 45%.

Wolf said there’s no single solution to addressing and alleviating vaccine hesitancy.

“It’s different for each individual: ‘What’s it going to take to get me to trust somebody,’ ” he said, noting that more trust might come as more small clinics and family physicians begin providing the vaccine. He said around 200 new providers were added to the statewide list on Tuesday.

Wolf also said he’d like to take a wait-and-see approach before offering vaccine incentives likes West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who earlier this week offered $100 savings bonds to anyone 16 to 35 who gets the vaccine.

In Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont has announced a partnership with dozens of restaurants across the state to offer a free drink to anyone who shows proof they’ve been fully vaccinated.

Wolf said such incentives haven’t been discussed, but he didn’t fully rule them out, calling the idea something the Covid-19 Vaccine Task Force could talk about.

“What I’d like to do is see how this works,” he said about the push to make the vaccine more available. “I’d appeal to the better angels of Pennsylvania to say this is a good thing for us to do for each other and won’t you consider it at least for that reason.”

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