Allentown health official pleads with people to get vaccinated
Written by Victoria Scialfa on July 27, 2021
Allentown health official pleads with people to get vaccinated
By Brittany Sweeney
July 27, 2021
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Public health officials are watching the spread of the more contagious COVID-19 delta variant closely. Roughly 56% of eligible residents in Lehigh County are vaccinated according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Vicky Kistler, director of Health for the Allentown Health Bureau, is pleading with people to get vaccinated and worries about reaching those who are not vaccinated.
“We’ve gone from having hundreds of people in a line to having a handful of people at a time. So it’s very concerning and although we’ve done a great job here in Lehigh County, with getting as many people vaccinated as we can, we have a long way to go,” Kistler said.
The data shows that unvaccinated people are at high risk of getting COVID-19 while vaccinated people are at low risk and even if they do get the virus, people who are fully vaccinated get relatively mild cases compared with serious illness for those who are not vaccinated.
Kistler is also stressing the importance of getting both shots in the Pfizer and Moderna two-dose series, even if the second shot is outside the recommended time frame.
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