Stop risking your life. It’s time to get vaccinated, South Carolina

If I told you that you could avoid being hit by a car just by walking on the sidewalk instead of in the middle of the road, would you believe me?

Because that’s really all our public health officials and medical professionals are doing when they tell you to get the COVID-19 vaccine. They’re offering you solid advice on how to avoid being hit by a deadly virus.

Now, let’s say you’ve never seen anybody get hit by a car. (I fortunately have not.) You have heard the stories. You’ve seen the headlines. Do you believe people are hit by cars?

Why do you believe it? Because you know it’s true. You know people are injured and killed in car accidents every single day in America. You know it because your mother told you to look both ways. You know it because your insurance company makes you pay a monthly premium just in case.

So, why don’t you know that COVID-19 kills people and could kill you? You’ve seen the headlines. You’ve read the stories. Your family, friends, co-workers, family physician and others have mentioned it to you. They’ve suggested that taking the vaccine is a precaution - the medical equivalent of walking on the sidewalk.

But you still have doubts?

Maybe you’re skeptical of Dr. Anthony Fauci. You have your doubts about the information coming from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The CDC? Don’t even get you started.

But there’s no reason to be skeptical of your neighbors, people like Polly Jacobs, simply doing what’s best for them and the people they love.

Jacobs, who said she has underlying health conditions, is a resident of Hopkins, South Carolina, and last week she opted to get the COVID-19 vaccine for one very simple reason.

You get the vaccine “if you want to be there for your loved ones,” Jacobs explained as she waited the requisite 15 minutes after receiving the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Jacobs, sporting a mask with her also-masked grandchildren in tow, took advantage of the vaccine clinic held before Rep. Jim Clyburn’s town hall at the Garners Ferry Adult Activity Center.

Jacobs was upbeat and hopeful, noting that she came to the clinic that day because it was conveniently located for her so she decided to “get protected from the virus.”

The following day, a few miles from the activity center, at the Richland County Administration Building in Columbia survivors and local officials held a memorial service for the dead.

County resident Dennis Bannister spoke calmly and lovingly as he told the story of losing his wife, daughter and mother-in-law to COVID-19.

A single death in a family can leave survivors heartbroken, struggling to cope each day, let alone three.

The vaccine came too late for them.

Will it be too late for you?

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reports an uptick in new COVID cases last week, including an increase in the number of people hospitalized and in intensive care units in the last 30 days.

Confirmed deaths are at 8,687, while probable deaths have reached 1,175, and just 43.6 percent of South Carolina residents are fully vaccinated despite the vaccines being available for many months.

One of our recent letters to the editor explained some of the hesitancy surrounding vaccines this way.

“If South Carolina humans aren’t seeing enough death near them, they are going to say, ‘Nope I don’t need something to prevent something that has a low chance to kill me.’”

Do bodies really need to be piled high in your driveway to convince you?

You don’t need to witness a car crash to know they happen. You don’t need to be surrounded by men and women struggling to breathe in a COVID ward to know people are suffering and dying.

Just stop walking in the middle of the road.

This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Stop risking your life. It’s time to get vaccinated, South Carolina."