If we want to avoid last winter Covid-19 scenario, everyone should get their Covid-19 shot before the holidays, DHEC say
The Covid-19 situation in South Carolina seems to be stable for weeks now, but new Covid-19 wave is expected after the holidays, something that we already saw last year.
In an effort to reduce the impact from the new Covid-19 wave, DHEC officials are encourage South Carolinians to get vaccinated before the start of the holiday season.
“We’re not out of the woods,” DHEC State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said. “Substantially, transmission throughout the state is still very significant, and it’s a great worry as we are seeing a slow in that decline in cases.”
Since there is three weeks period between the first and the second dose of the vaccine, those unvaccinated can’t be fully vaccinated by Thanksgiving, but those who are about to get the first dose of the vaccine will still get decent protection and will be eligible for second dose until Christmas.
DHEC encourages both adults and children aged 5-11 to get the vaccine as soon as possible. The pediatric dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 was authorized for emergency use earlier this month.
“That is really the best and most effective means to protect us as we move into the holiday seasons,” Bell said.
With the authorization of the Covid-19 for children aged 5-11, White House then said that 28 million children will instantly become eligible to get the vaccine. In the first two weeks since the approval of the vaccine, around 2.6 million children got the first dose of the vaccine which is nearly 10% of that group, according to the White House data.
There are around 436,000 children aged 5-11 in South Carolina eligible to get vaccinated against Covid-19. According to the DHEC data until last Thursday, nearly 11,000 children received the first dose of the vaccine since its approval.
“Some providers did experience some glitches,” she said. “We know that there were some difficulties with finding vaccinations online for some people. However, for the most part, we feel that those vaccine providers who had vaccine available, who had received the training, who were prepared to provide the dosing from the new packaging for that age group, that it, for the most part, went off seamlessly.”
The vaccination in that group is going better than expected and health officials are very happy to see the results so far. Those who don’t plan to get vaccinated before Thanksgiving are strongly advised to get tested in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus in the upcoming period.
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