CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — "Let's get vaccinated!"
Cheerleaders with purple pom-poms, police, fire and health officials and even an ice cream truck followed Mayor Vic Carstarphen down 9th Street during a combination parade-and-vaccination clinic Tuesday in Camden, a city whose COVID-19 vaccination rate is hovering a little over 55%.
“By any means necessary, we get out, draw attention. Talk to the community, let the community know," said Carstarphen. The parade was offering Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccine shots on the spot.
The any-means-necessary push not only comes at a time when the delta variant is accounting for most of the COVID-19 cases in the state.
It also comes at a point where new research shows that a previous COVID-19 victim who gets the vaccine has much more of an ability to fight the virus, compared to someone simply using natural immunity gained from their first battle with coronavirus.
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“There is data available to show that vaccine-induced immunity is better and more durable than natural immunity from viral infection," said Dr. Martin Topial, the head of infectious diseases at South Jersey-based Virtua Health System.
That data came late last week from a CDC study of people in Kentucky who were infected with COVID-19 in 2020, then re-infected in May and June of 2021.
It showed that unvaccinated people were 2.34 times more likely to be re-infected with COVID-19 compared to those who have received the vaccine.
Dr. Topial said a vaccine dose in someone who already has the virus is sort of like a booster and extra protection.
The CDC said the evidence bolsters their recommendation that anyone eligible to receive the vaccine should get it, regardless of whether they have been infected or not.
Yet another reason, in the minds of people like Camden's mayor and officials, for the unvaccinated to listen to those cheerleaders on 9th Street.
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