 The Floyd County Fiscal Court recently shared a public service announcement video on social media where local leaders, medical directors, and government officials all echoed a statement. Hello, this is Judge Executive Robbie Williams. I've got my vaccination. How about you? I'm Governor Andy Beshear. I'm vaccinated. How about you? I spoke with Floyd County Judge Executive Robbie Williams to discuss this public service announcement and the need for herd immunity in eastern Kentucky. Jeremy, we felt it's important for us to be consistent in our messaging. And I've said from day one, it is a personal decision, but we do want you to have all the information that you need in order to make an informed decision. Williams believes that one step will be encouraging people to search for local information from local health professionals. You know, I think a lot of folks watch CNN and Talks News and these national media outlets, and the information they're hearing is what's going on in Florida, what's going on in New York, what's going on in Chicago. The information that we receive is what's going on at Highlands ARH, what's going on at PNC and Pikeville, what's going on in our region. So we feel it's important for us as community leaders to step up and let folks know that we have been the vaccinations and we would encourage you to get vaccinated if your circumstances deemed it to be necessary. Williams adds that there is too much misinformation going on, which could deter people from getting vaccinated. Like I told my brother a couple days ago, I said, I don't go to my mechanic and ask for medical advice and I'll go to my doctor and ask for mechanical advice on how to work on my car. I want to get my information from the people who are trained and have an understanding of the information that they're trying to pass along to me. The debate on whether to get vaccinated or not has become political, creating a divide among communities. I tell folks, I don't think any more or any less of you, if you get the shot or you don't get the shot. But from what I've seen and how it is destroying families for every death, for every death that people hear about, I'll promise you, there's 30 more people that are going to have lifelong issues due to COVID and their lungs. They don't realize. They say, oh, I got COVID, I've gotten over it. I mean, there's long-term health implications that goes along with people with blood clots or having problems with their legs. But Williams says that people should consider if they do become infected with COVID-19, whether they are better off without being vaccinated, dealing with the much worse symptoms from the virus. All in all, Williams does say to be vaccinated is your choice to make. As a veteran, I'm not going to impose my will on anyone because that goes against everything that I fought for and signed up to protect as a veteran. That's freedom of choice. But we certainly feel, based on the information that we have, Jeremy, it is in a large portion of society's best interest to go ahead and get vaccinated. But he hopes everyone will make a reasonable decision on whether the vaccine is right for you. I think for a lot of folks, the answer is go sit down with your family physician and discuss your medical history and see what your family physician recommends. It's a simple and clear message. You need to do what you think is in you and your family's best interest. What was in my and my family's best interest was to sit down with our family physician and get the facts, and we've got vaccinated, and we feel comfortable in the decision that we've made. And I certainly want you to feel comfortable in the decision that you make for you and your family. Reporting for Mountain Top News, I'm Jeremy Justice.