Get the vaccine
The dreaded, extra-contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has reached our region. This we know. Allegheny County health officials have confirmed more than a half- dozen cases ( from March through last week.)
The fear is obvious: another pandemic surge.
After several months of welcomed and gradual reopening following more than a year of strict pandemic precautions, it is clear we cannot allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security. The answer is vaccination.
It is imperative that we not let down our guard against a virus that has claimed thousands upon thousands of lives.
Again, the answer is vaccination, and the goal (whether realistic or not) should be 100%. At the middle of last week, of all Allegheny County residents eligible for the vaccine, 66% were partially vaccinated and about 60% were fully vaccinated. About 61% of Pennsylvania residents 18 and older were fully vaccinated.
We know that we probably cannot manage — not politically, not economically, not emotionally, not culturally — another large- scale shutdown. And we do not have to. Because the answer is vaccination. And it should be done voluntarily.
Vaccination is the best tool we have to deal with this ongoing crisis. If we had had vaccines at the outset of the pandemic, countless lives would have been spared and months of economic damage and social isolation would have been averted.
We did not have effective vaccines when the virus emerged, but we have them now. And we are not using them as effectively as we could. This is senseless.
While experts have warned that a vaccination rate of 75% to 80% would be necessary to achieve herd immunity and to stop the spread of the virus, we have fallen short.
We must think of the vulnerable among us now: children who are not eligible to be vaccinated yet and people who are immunocompromised and may not gain as much protection from the vaccines.
The path forward is clear: We must work toward and press for better vaccination rates. We must push back against misinformation and do the hard work of addressing vaccine hesitancy.
We so badly want to leave the pandemic behind, but the threat remains. We cannot let up.