One voice. When rallying support in a community that is the message that matters.

Warren County definitely needs to be on the same page in a battle that has changed our lives.

Within the last month, Warren General Hospital and its partners of Allegheny Health Network and LECOM Health have called on residents here that when it is their time, they need to step up and get the vaccine for COVID-19.

There is nothing political in the message. This is all about moving forward.

Since November, our county has been reeling from the illness and death that this virus. For the first seven months, from March to October, many of us watched the horrors from afar.

November was the reckoning when the holiday seasons began.

County leaders also recognize the concerns. To even begin to get back to where we were at this point last year, we need a team effort.

“As a group of business, education, community, health care and religious leaders, we strongly urge you to get the vaccination when it becomes available to you,” the message says. “It will take 60% to 70% of our population getting the vaccine — or getting the disease itself — to develop ‘herd immunity’ to stop the rampant spread of COVID-19.”

Impressively, as the preceding quote notes, nearly 70 leaders from here have signed on to this message. Even in a county of 40,000 residents, that is quite telling.

Through Thursday, 1,976 total positive cases had been reported here. More staggering is the death toll at 88.

Our nation’s last great pandemic occurred more than 100 years ago when the Spanish flu took far too many. In 2021, our abilities and technologies are much greater to stop the spread.

New vaccines, which can save lives and return our society to greater normalcy, are the best answer in moving this county and nation forward.

“It is essential that we all work together for the benefit of our fellow Warren County residents and businesses,” the message reads. “Receiving the vaccine not only protects you, it protects your neighbors, friends and loved ones.”

John D’Agostino is the regional editor of the Times Observer, The Post-Journal and the OBSERVER in Dunkirk. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call (716) 487-1111, ext. 253.