Has SC’s recent COVID surge convinced more people to get vaccinated? DHEC hopes so

The sharp surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over the past month appears to be motivating more unvaccinated South Carolinians to roll up their sleeves.

Weekly coronavirus inoculation rates, which have been dropping since April and had dipped to record lows by early July, have been on the rise since infections began climbing a few weeks ago, according to state Department of Health and Environmental Control data.

Vaccinations have increased noticeably since July 5, when South Carolina’s seven-day moving average of doses administered sank below 3,300. At the time, the health department was reporting only about 150 new COVID-19 cases each day.

By last Friday, when the state reported 2,203 cases, more than 10,000 vaccine doses were being administered daily for the first time since mid-June.

“We have seen a recent uptick in vaccinations across the state and we hope that that trend continues,” DHEC’s medical consultant Jonathan Knoche said Wednesday. “It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why that is, but we hope that it’s because people have maybe done more research or they’ve noticed there’s an uptick in cases in their family or their community and they decided to go ahead and protect themselves and others by getting vaccinated.”

Vaccination, state health officials said, remains crucial to saving lives and ending the pandemic.

More than 90% of South Carolinians diagnosed with COVID-19 in June were not fully vaccinated, according to DHEC data. While breakthrough cases do occur in inoculated people, symptoms are typically less severe. Roughly 90% of the COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the state were among unvaccinated people, data show.

Despite the recent jump in vaccine administrations, South Carolina’s rate remains low compared to other states.

As of Wednesday, 44.8% of residents 12 and older were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 51.7% had gotten at least one vaccine dose.

Young people, especially those age 20 to 24, remain the least vaccinated demographic group in the state. Only about a quarter of South Carolinians ages 12 to 19 and just 6% of young adults ages 20 to 24 have gotten a single COVID-19 shot, according to DHEC data.

Nationally, 58.2% of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated and 67.7% have received at least one dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Zak Koeske

The State

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Zak Koeske is a projects reporter for The State. He previously covered state government and politics for the paper. Before joining The State, Zak covered education, government and policing issues in the Chicago area. He’s also written for publications in his native Pittsburgh and the New York/New Jersey area.