Mayor of the least-vaccinated community in Allegheny County voices frustration over hesitancy

BRADDOCK, Pa. — Hearing that Braddock Borough is the least vaccinated community in Allegheny County, the mayor said her concerns are only growing.

Chardae Jones, Braddock’s mayor, said she worries about what the fall and winter months may bring as the delta variant continues to drive infections. She said there is a vaccine clinic every few weeks, but nobody shows up.

“It’s not because they’re not here. We just need people to come to the vaccine clinics,” Jones said.

The Allegheny County Health Department reports Braddock’s zip code is the least vaccinated area in the county followed by Duquesne and Manchester.

“I wish I could be surprised to hear that but we also at one point had one of the highest increase of cases here,” Jones said. “Most people who don’t want to get vaccinated seem like they don’t trust the vaccine because they don’t know what’s in it and say it happened too fast, and they just don’t want to read the facts. They go by hearsay on what they see on the internet.”

As the delta variant keeps spreading, Jones is worried. She’s teaming up with state representatives to find ways to get people to trust the science behind the vaccine.

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