Vaccine could save your life

Roll up your sleeve

Regarding “Half of eligible Texans now fully vaccinated for COVID-19,” ( July 6): As Texas tips over the halfway mark for vaccinations in people eligible for immunization against COVID-19 (everyone 12 years and older), it is important that Houstonians realize that the pandemic is still far from over. Make no mistake, we have seen great progress since this time last year. But with the delta variant circulating, the Texas Medical Center’s latest data foreshadows a worsening of our local situation. The reproduction rate of the virus is up 15 percent, and people are testing positive at a rate 10 percent higher than last week.

For now, hospital cases are holding steady, but on recent shifts on the front lines fighting against this virus, the patients I have diagnosed with COVID have all been unvaccinated. As my patients teeter on the edge of sick and not-sick, as they are hopefully recovering isolated from others to contain the virus, there is a safe, effective, tried and true way for you to avoid catching the virus yourself.

All you have to do is roll up your sleeve and get your shot.

Cedric Dark, emergency physician at

Baylor College of Medicine