CDC urges everyone to get vaccinated as holidays approach

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The University of Louisville Hospital reported that there are 68 people hospitalized at their location with COVID-19.

While theses number have decreased over recent weeks, UofL Health expert Dr. Mark Burns said a majority of those hospitalized are unvaccinated. Burns said hopefully there won’t be another surge but, with the holidays coming up, it is possible.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging people to get vaccinated ahead of the holidays if they haven’t done so already. For young children who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine, the CDC suggests reducing risk of exposure by making sure the people around them are vaccinated.

With the Delta variant still dominant in Louisville, wastewater testing has identified a low level of the Lambda variant in a couple areas of the city. However, no human cases have been reported.

Burns said information suggests current COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the Lambda variant.

“Usually, people who are 55 and above are the vast majority of that population has been vaccinated,” Burns said. “People who have been hospitalized are the ones 24 to 40 in that sort of age group; those are the ones not being vaccinated. There are a myriad of reasons I have heard. They go anywhere from, ‘The vaccines haven’t been studied enough, haven’t been out long enough,’ to some of these crazy conspiracy theories and misinformation that some people have gathered.”

Burns said he hears from people who got COVID and still has many patients who are hospitalized with COVID who say they wish they would have gotten the vaccine and not believed false information.

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