Shelby County sees uptick in COVID vaccinations

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - There’s been a pretty big jump in the number of COVID vaccines being administered in Shelby County.

The weekly average vaccinations per day now stands at 400. Last week, the county averaged at just 245 vaccines per day.

The Centers for Disease Control says the COVID-19 community-level spread is high in Shelby County.

The good news is less than five percent of staffed hospital beds are in use by patients with confirmed COVID.

Health officials say as more people get vaccinated, fewer are getting severely ill.

President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

His physician calls his symptoms mild and directly correlates his health to anti-viral COVID medication and getting vaccinated.

“I think people have an appreciation that COVID is still with us,” said Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Michelle Taylor.

Taylor says she isn’t shocked that there’s been an uptick in vaccinations in Shelby County.

According to the Shelby County Health Department, last week there were 2,800 doses of the COVID vaccine administered across all providers—that’s an increase of almost 800 doses over the previous week.

Dr. Taylor says some of the increase can be attributed to the health department’s aggressive COVID vaccination campaign.

Taylor says the CDC noted a higher than usual vaccine hesitancy in Shelby County, so they infused a lot of money here.

However, Taylor also thinks the increase in vaccinations is due to the looming start of school next month.

Taylor said, “I also understand that parents in the last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of August really turn their attention to getting these kids ready to go back to school.”

For the next three weekends, the Health Department is helping to organize three back-to-school vaccination events. All vaccines required for school will be available.

This year parents can also choose to include the COVID-19 vaccine.

The locations and dates for the vaccination events are as follows:

July 23rd: MSCS Teaching & Learning Academy

2485 Union Avenue

10:00am to 2:00pm

July 30th: Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church

70 N. Bellevue

10:00am- 2:00pm

August 6th: MSCS Teaching & Learning Academy

2485 Union Avenue

10:00am- 2:00pm

Anyone over the age of six months can get the vaccine.

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