In the ongoing fight against COVID-19, Dallas has reached a major milestone. With 80% of its residents vaccinated, Dallas County has reached herd immunity.
Dr. Joseph Chang, Chief Medical Officer at Parkland, told NBC 5 that essentially, this means 80% of people living in Dallas County should not be able to get coronavirus.
Chang said, "These vaccines are extremely effective even against all of these brand new variants that are coming out, whether it's the Delta or new Lambda that everybody is talking about. We know that these vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are very effective in preventing hospitalizations and death and that is, of course, the most important thing."
Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation CEO Steve Miff said that while herd immunity "represents good progress, it is important that we understand the work is not over."
He said in a statement, "While the whole community on average reached the 80% mark, there are only 49 ZIP codes above the 80% threshold with 45 ZIP codes still below the 80% mark, there are still significant pockets in the community that remain vulnerable."
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