Vaccine interest ticks up as COVID variant continues surge

Jul. 28—On Wednesday morning, Anniston resident Leon Elston decided that it was time to roll up a sleeve and get the shot.

Elston had COVID-19 in December, and like most who've had the disease, he was prohibited from getting the vaccine for weeks after he recovered. But with the Delta variant surging and Alabama largely unvaccinated, he decided it was time to check the shot off his to-do list.

"It's definitely not a feeling I want to have again," Elston said of the illness.

Elston was among 17 people who'd shown up for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Carver Community Center in Anniston by 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The city and a local health care nonprofit, Quality of Life Health Services, held the event.

Single-day vaccination drives were common at the height of the pandemic, and with the Delta variant spreading fast in Alabama, local organizations are ramping up the effort again.

That's not the only emblem of the pandemic making a comeback.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week urged everyone — vaccinated or unvaccinated — to wear masks in schools and in most indoor locations.

At Anniston's Regional Medical Center, COVID-19 patients took up 16 hospital beds, six people were on ventilators and some nurses working the hospital's regular intensive care unit had to be shifted to the COVID ICU, doctors said Wednesday.

It's all because of the new wave of coronavirus that every expert saw coming.

Alabama remains among the least-vaccinated of states. In Calhoun County, only 28 percent of residents were fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, and only 34 percent had gotten at least one shot — leaving 66 percent completely un-immunized. That's far below the 70 percent health experts had hoped to reach before the world emerged from pandemic isolation.

The rise of the Delta variant, which ran like wildfire through India and the United Kingdom earlier this year, did little to spur people to get vaccinated.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 1,181 people in Alabama lay in hospital beds, a five-fold increase since the beginning of July, according to statistics from the Alabama Department of Public Health.

School in some districts starts as early as next week. An Alabama law passed earlier this year prohibits schools from requiring vaccination.

On the bright side, ADPH numbers show, more than 13,000 people statewide got a COVID-19 shot on Friday, the highest number the state has posted in weeks. Still, the pace of new vaccinations is a trickle compared to the flood the state saw in March and April.

"They're getting educated about the virus, and they're concerned about the future," said Denecia Getaw, site manager for Quality of Life Health Services, which held the Wednesday shot clinic.

Getaw said Wednesday's clinic saw a little more interest than recent past clinics. She said many of the people who have yet to get a vaccine had legitimate questions about it — and have been inspired to look for answers now that the virus is once again in the news.

In a Facebook press conference Wednesday afternoon, doctors from RMC tried to address some of the public's lingering questions about the vaccine. Dr. Rohit Patel noted that of all the recently hospitalized COVID-19 patients, only one has been vaccinated — a sign that the vaccine does indeed protect people from the virus.

"We have already seen the proof of it," he said.

Dr. Raul Magadia, the hospital's infectious disease specialist, knocked down some of the rumors about the vaccine that doctors have heard recently: that it alters a person's DNA (it doesn't), that it makes women sterile (no) and the long-standing urban legend that the vaccine shot contains a microchip placed there for some sort of nefarious purpose.

"It's pure science fiction," Magadia said.

Patel said the hospital recently lost a 54-year-old patient to the virus. It's unclear whether that death is included in the state's current count of 332 dead from the virus in Calhoun County.

Despite the surge in new cases, the pace of deaths from COVID-19 has slowed dramatically in recent weeks. Three-fourths of people 75 and up, the population most at risk from the virus, are vaccinated, ADPH numbers show.

Still, doctors said Wednesday that RMC's beds are filling up with people in their 40s, 30s and even their 20s.

RMC staff noted they are still giving out vaccines for free at the Tyler Center, near the hospital, on Friday mornings starting at 8 a.m.

Earlier this week, Hobson City officials announced they would give away gift cards to people who show up for doses at J.R. Striplin Park on Saturday.

Magadia said it's unlikely the state will reach a 90 percent vaccination rate, or even 80 percent, given the number of people who have said they're absolutely opposed to the vaccine. Still, he said, a large portion of the population is still reachable.

"I've been debating it," said Anniston resident William Moore. A worker at Popeye's, he said he gets a temperature check every time he comes to work, and has relatives who have urged him to get a shot. On Wednesday morning, he sat in the waiting area at the Carver vaccination clinic, convinced it was time to go ahead and get the jab.

The fact that Carver wasn't an out-of-the-way location was a big factor in his decision, Moore said. He was also interested in the freedom a shot could afford him.

"I'm ready to travel," he said.

Capitol & statewide reporter Tim Lockette: 256-294-4193. On Twitter @TLockette_Star.