June is COVID Vaccine Action Month. President Joe Biden has a set a goal of 70-percent of the nation’s eligible population to be vaccinated by the Fourth of July.
The head of the Kent County Health Department says with a little encouragement, the county can reach that goal.
“In Kent County, over 60% of eligible people have received at least one dose of vaccine.”
Dr. Adam London is Director of the Kent County Health Department.
“We’re doing quite well compared to the state average. We have 55% of the eligible population, the 16 and older in particular, who are fully vaccinated.”
The question some have is why the 70% vaccination threshold is important when 60% have received at least one dose and roughly 68,000 residents have tested positive acquiring some immunity from infection. Dr. London also suggests that, based on studies, for every one diagnosed case two or three go undetected. That would mean that 200,000 to 300,000 Kent County residents have been infected.
“However, here in Kent County we probably still have at least 100,000 people, maybe more, who are totally vulnerable to this virus still at this point. That is more than enough people to sustain a transmission of the virus and to still have some pretty large clusters of illness in the community.”
Dr. London says the vaccine is readily available and can prevent that from happening.