‘The shots work’: Mayor Curry pushes back against vaccine hesitancy following new COVID-19 data

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry took to social media to urge anyone still unvaccinated to do so, and soon.

As of July 8, 183.2 million people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 158.3 million are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Still, in May, 18,000 people in the United States died as a result of COVID-19.

99.7% were unvaccinated.

That’s 0.8%, or five deaths per day on average.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday that the vaccine is so effective that “nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable.”

“The data proves that the shots work,” tweeted Mayor Curry Tuesday.

Duval County cases jumped about 244%, from 618 cases at the start of June to 2,127 as of last Friday, according to the Florida Department of Health.

And while numbers remain low, new cases and hospitalizations have begun to trend upward. Adults ages 18–49 now account for more than 40% of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations, and the highly contagious Delta strain is expected to make up over 50% of new cases.

Find COVID-19 vaccines near you at https://www.vaccines.gov/.

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