With Covid-19 Vaccines available at grocery stores, pharmacies and even South Carolina breweries, it is arguable that if you want the Covid Vaccine, you can easily get it. Despite the rise of the Delta variant and Covid infections across the state, South Carolina’s vaccination efforts are stalling and a new poll of unvaccinated Americans suggest that we may never get to the 70% vaccination rate needed to eradicate Covid from the population.
Here are the findings from the Covid Vaccination Poll
- 51% of unvaccinated U.S. adults — the equivalent of 76 million people — say they will either “never” get vaccinated
- 20% want to wait to see what happens before deciding
- 22% are not sure if they will get a Covid Vaccine
- Unvaccinated Americans are unconcerned by the new Delta variant with 73% saying the variant makes no difference in their decision to get the vaccine
- 45% don’t trust the Covid Vaccines and 26% say they don’t trust any vaccines
- Despite the risk of long haul Covid, 37% are worried about long term vaccine side effects
When you combine mistrust in the vaccines with complacency and a low level of personal concern over Covid, it’s pretty hard to see a path to getting more individuals vaccinated against Covid-19 nationally and in the Palmetto State.
Why These Numbers Matter
As the highly transmissible and dangerous Delta variant spreads across the nation, U.S. COVID-19 cases have are up 140 percent over the last two weeks. Hospitalizations and deaths are up by one-third over the same period and will likely increase dramatically over the next few weeks. South Carolina has seen a 58% rise in Covid cases in the past two weeks.
Most of the new cases involve unvaccinated individuals and are highly preventable. Analysis of hospitalizations show that 99% of the hospitalized individuals are unvaccinated. It is clear that Covid Vaccines are safe and keep people from contracting serious cases of Covid-19.
Tuesday, South Carolina reported a Percent Positivity rate from Covid-19 testing at 7.4%. Clearly, Covid infections are starting to rise in our state. It is well past time to trust the science, get the vaccine and put Covid behind us.
Still on the fence about the Covid Vaccine, please read this post from a Hospitalist Physician at Grandview Medical Center in Alabama below where only 33.7 percent of the population fully vaccinated and COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations are surging yet again.
SC DHEC Comments on the Recent Rise in Cases
“We are all longing to return to the way things were before COVID-19, and if you’re fully vaccinated, you can do almost everything that you used to do,” Traxler said. “If you’re not fully vaccinated, however, you can’t return to normal safely. Wearing your mask and physical distancing is still your responsibility.” “COVID-19 is now a vaccine-preventable disease. South Carolinians don’t need to continue to die and become hospitalized and sick from this disease. You can protect yourselves and others,” Traxler said.
