As the third dose vaccination for those at higher risk begins, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, EOHU's Chief Medical Officer, announces new statistics regarding cases and vaccination rates.

There are currently 16 active cases in the region; 13 of them are not fully vaccinated or are unvaccinated. There is only one hospitalized case and no outbreaks. Over the weekend, 6 cases were recorded. There are 5 cases from the CUPR region and 1 case from the CUSDG region. Among these, there is one case of the Delta variant. Even if people are vaccinated against Covid, there is still a possibility of contracting and transmitting this type of variant.

In terms of vaccines, 287,859 doses were administered; 150,506 of these doses were for the first vaccine and 137,353 were for the second vaccine. 

With all these doses administered, the target for the first and second doses has been met, but we are not yet ready to go beyond step 3. We need to aim even higher. That's why we'd like to see 85-90% of the population aged 12 and over vaccinated by now. Dr. Paul believes this is possible. 

In addition to the first and second doses, Dr. Paul announced that a third dose is starting this week in high-risk long-term care and nursing homes. The people targeted for these third doses at this time are older people or those with medical conditions, as over time, their rate of protection from the vaccine decreases. 

As for the protection of children who are not eligible to receive their vaccines because they are under 12 years of age, Dr. Paul says that the best way to ensure their safety from this virus is for those around them to get vaccinated. In addition, children born in 2009 who are still 11 years old but will turn 12 before the end of 2021 are now eligible to be vaccinated. 

The goal is also to try to prevent all deaths, hospitalizations and admissions to intensive care. There is a lot of evidence that vaccines are helping.  With all that said, the arena clinics are ending this week, but immunization will still continue at community centers and EOHU offices.