'COVID is not over:' UNC doctor says now is time to get vaccinated as Delta variant rages
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Erin Huber had her reasons for getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
"To keep everyone around me safe?" Huber said. "To each their own but why not keep everyone safe if you can."
She's grateful she got it as the new Delta variant raging across the country and the world.
The UK celebrated the success of its vaccination campaign by lifting many COVID-related restrictions. But since then, a more potent strain of the coronavirus has taken hold.
It was first seen in India and is now the dominant strain in the UK, accounting for 60% of new cases there.
"COVID is not over," said Dr. David Wohl, infectious diseases specialist at UNC Health. "We may be a very decisive point in the history of this pandemic."
Dr. Wohl has led the COVID fight across UNC Health and helped organized the large scale vaccination effort at the Friday Center.
He said history has taught them that whatever strain is most dominant in the UK will become the most lethal here.
"We have already isolated it here in the US," said Dr Wohl, adding it's not yet been detected in North Carolina. "It's much worse than the variants we've seen more. It's not make-believe, it's real."
Dr. Wohl said now is the time to get immunized while vaccines are still easily accessible.
They are now doing hundreds of vaccines at the Friday Center not thousands and it's likely the center will close in the next month as the focus turns to off-site vaccinations.
Outreach continues to try and increase North Carolina's COVID-19 lagging vaccination rates
"I definitely got vaccinated because it's the right thing to do from a public health stand point," said another health care professional, who didn't want us using her name. "I think we need to be cautious just because we're not sure of the number of people who have been vaccinated. We're not quite at the goal of where we want to be so we might be at a risk for another surge if we're not careful."
