Roughly 178 million Americans ages 12 and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.Meanwhile, in California, at least 70% of Californians have received at least one dose of the vaccine. However, some people like 25-year-old Ryan Carlson are not one of them.”My body’s already essentially used to the virus. So next season — I’m sure COVID’s going to be a season from now on — when that happens, I’ll go get the vaccine,” Carlson said.Other young adults are hesitating to get vaccinated as well.Dr. Brad Pollock, associate dean for public health sciences at the UC Davis School of Medicine, said one of the issues keeping youth from getting the vaccine is their sense of feeling too healthy to be susceptible to the virus.”They certainly have a lower risk for a lot of things that kill us but they’re not invulnerable,” Pollock said. In Yolo County, health officials have noticed that vaccinations among groups of people ages 12 to 19 and 30 to 34 are below average. In Placer County, vaccination rates among those ages 18 to 34 years old are also lower.Currently, officials expect the Delta strain to become the predominant variant and since it’s the most contagious, experts fear that low vaccination rates could make this a bad combination, especially in less populated regions that tend to have fewer resources available. “One of the threats that we have is if we can’t get the vaccination rates high enough, some of those smaller areas could be wonderful locations for major outbreaks,” Pollock said.Health officials said the U.S. will not meet the goal President Joe Biden set forward of having 70% of the country vaccinated by July 4.As far as booster shots — Moderna, Pfizer, and J&J are testing season boosters. The question now is timing, and that really depends on how controlled the virus gets.
Roughly 178 million Americans ages 12 and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, in California, at least 70% of Californians have received at least one dose of the vaccine. However, some people like 25-year-old Ryan Carlson are not one of them.
“My body’s already essentially used to the virus. So next season — I’m sure COVID’s going to be a season from now on — when that happens, I’ll go get the vaccine,” Carlson said.
Other young adults are hesitating to get vaccinated as well.
Dr. Brad Pollock, associate dean for public health sciences at the UC Davis School of Medicine, said one of the issues keeping youth from getting the vaccine is their sense of feeling too healthy to be susceptible to the virus.
“They certainly have a lower risk for a lot of things that kill us but they’re not invulnerable,” Pollock said.
In Yolo County, health officials have noticed that vaccinations among groups of people ages 12 to 19 and 30 to 34 are below average. In Placer County, vaccination rates among those ages 18 to 34 years old are also lower.
Currently, officials expect the Delta strain to become the predominant variant and since it’s the most contagious, experts fear that low vaccination rates could make this a bad combination, especially in less populated regions that tend to have fewer resources available.
“One of the threats that we have is if we can’t get the vaccination rates high enough, some of those smaller areas could be wonderful locations for major outbreaks,” Pollock said.
Health officials said the U.S. will not meet the goal President Joe Biden set forward of having 70% of the country vaccinated by July 4.
As far as booster shots — Moderna, Pfizer, and J&J are testing season boosters. The question now is timing, and that really depends on how controlled the virus gets.