Luverne mayor joins Minnesota ambassadors for COVID-19 vaccines

Luverne Mayor Pat Baustian is among city, business and sports leaders across the state working as ambassadors to encourage Minnesotans to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to Gov. Tim Walz’s office, the ambassadors will reach out to members of their communities through their local news outlets, social media, phone calls and more to promote getting vaccinated.
In his July 1 editorial, Baustian points out that Rock County’s vaccination rate is one of the lowest in the state at 48.9 percent.
“We are normally leaders, but this isn’t the case with our COVID-19 vaccination rates,” he said. “And with the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant taking hold around the globe, I strongly urge all citizens of Luverne and Rock County to step up to the plate.”
In addition to Baustian, the ambassadors include civil rights activist Dr. Josie Johnson and Best Buy CMO Dr. Daniel Grossman (who is also an emergency medicine physician).
“At this stage of our vaccination efforts, every conversation counts — every person who turns out to get their shot is critical to reaching that level of broad community protection we need to keep Minnesotans safe as we get back to normal,” Walz said.
“These Minnesota leaders recognize the importance of vaccines and are providing a great service to our state that will help put the pandemic behind us.”
The cohort also includes Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer, Land O’Lakes president and CEO Beth Ford, University of Minnesota head football coach PJ Fleck, and singer, rapper and writer Dessa, who said in a statement that she’s “never been more excited to rock a Band-Aid.”
“I really encourage everyone to get vaccinated and the faster we can all do that, the faster we can all gather around each other as Minnesotans,” said Lindsay Whalen, University of Minnesota’s head women’s basketball coach and vaccine ambassador.
“I want to pack the barn next season, and in order to do that, we need to all get our vaccines.”
More than 3 million Minnesotans — 64.1 percent of the state’s 12-and-older population — have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose to date.