CINCINNATI — Public health officials are trying to find any way they can to get people vaccinated. In some cases, it's becoming a requirement for leisure activities.
Thursday night’s Jason Aldean concert will give fans a chance to get inoculated against COVID-19 at a vaccine station inside Riverbend Music Center.
The Hamilton County Health Department organized the event as one more way to get shots in arms.
Vaccines are not required to attend Thursday's concert, but more and more venues and performers are asking to see vaccination cards.
The latest to call for proof of vaccination are the owners of Promowest Pavilion at Ovation. The company announced Thursday they will require concert-goers to be fully vaccinated or show a negative Covid test within 72 hours to attend concerts at that facility beginning Aug. 29.
Maroon 5 is also requiring fans to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to attend their Aug. 28 show at Riverbend.
Mike Gorman said he was prepared to wear a mask to the show, but now he wants a refund.
"I understand the safety aspect of wanting people to do this and comply, and I totally agree,” Gorman said. “It is, I feel, an invasion of privacy and a change of the contract when I purchased the tickets almost two years ago.”
There's already a Change.Org petition to refund the Maroon 5 tickets because of the new COVID-19 requirements.
"I know we can resell the tickets, but then we put the same problem potentially on someone else or not getting fair market value for the tickets for what we paid. Or we explore the opportunity to get a negative test,” Gorman said.
Mike Samet, public information officer for the Hamilton County Health Department, said requirements are a growing trend.
"We've seen the hospital systems now require vaccines for their staff," he said. "And businesses, as they are going back to work and rejoining people going back to work, do have the ability to issue those vaccine requirements."
Samet said the vaccine clinic at Riverbend is another way to meet people where they are.
"Now that we've reached a slow-down point in vaccines, we're going out and getting people wherever we can,” he said.
The health department said they have all three vaccine types available at Thursday’s show: Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.
They said those who get the vaccine can still drink alcohol during the concert.
