WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The mayor of West Lafayette is making headlines after comments he made about unvaccinated residents during a COVID-19 briefing Wednesday.
Mayor John Dennis spoke during a coronavirus briefing by the Tippecanoe County Health Department. During the meeting, which was streamed live by the department, Dennis reiterated comments he made about those who have yet to receive the vaccine, particularly those who "still think that this is something that we made up" to control the population.
"I lost my temper at a council meeting recently and called these people unvaccinated a**holes and, unfortunately, sometimes that's accurate. That's true," Dennis said about 35 minutes into the video.
According to the Indiana State Department of Health's vaccination dashboard, 62% of eligible residents in West Lafayette are fully vaccinated. That means about 26,500 residents in the 47906 ZIP code remain unvaccinated.
Just this week, 13News learned hospitals in the county are struggling with capacity as COVID-19 cases climb.
"We have staff that are just resigning, saying, 'Look, I can't take this anymore. I can't do this anymore,'" said Dr. Daniel Wickert, vice president of medical affairs at Franciscan Health Western Indiana.
Most of the COVID patients now in the hospital are are also sicker and stay longer in ICU and some are younger, in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
"And none of them are vaccinated," Wickert said. "Also, of the 12 we have this morning, eight of those are in the ICU and a number of those are on vents. And we've not seen that for quite awhile so now we're seeing sicker patients."
"Oddly enough, they still think that this is something that is absolutely fabricated and doesn't have any impact on their life at all and they could not be more wrong," Dennis said. "It is important that we listen to our local experts, our local doctors and respect their advice."