Opinion | If you still have not gotten vaccinated against COVID-19, youre playing Russian roulette with your health. | Otis Sanford – WATN – Local 24

The virus doesnt care about red states or blue states. If we want all of our pre-pandemic freedoms back, the vaccine is the only way.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. If you still have not gotten vaccinated against COVID-19, youre playing Russian roulette with your health. That might sound like a corny phrase, but its true.

Unvaccinated individuals are putting themselves --and others-- at risk of illness or worse. The Delta variant of the virus is now the dominant strain in Memphis, Shelby County, and much of the Mid-South. Active cases reported by the Shelby County health department Sunday was 914, more than double what they were the previous week.

That tells me the Delta variant, which is easier to contract, is gaining a foothold in our community, and the only way to slow it is by getting vaccinated. This is no time for conspiracy theories and political stubbornness. The virus doesnt care about red states or blue states. If we want all of our pre-pandemic freedoms back, the vaccine is the only way. Forget about the debate over booster shots. We must work harder to get that first shot into more peoples arms.

Im sure most of us, myself included, have family members or close friends who are refusing to get vaccinated for whatever reason. And yes, its their choice, but we cannot complain about the slowness of getting back to normal when an abnormal virus is still hanging around. Nearly 1,700 people in Shelby County alone have died from COVID-19. In their memory, lets do all we can to stay safe.

And thats my point of view. Im Otis Sanford, for Local 24 News.

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Opinion | If you still have not gotten vaccinated against COVID-19, youre playing Russian roulette with your health. | Otis Sanford - WATN - Local 24