Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, today marks one year since all Louisiana residents were declared eligible to get the COVID vaccine. Twelve months later, demand for new shots has slowed to a trickle.
In that first week in March 2021, more than 100,000 Louisianans sought their first shot. Last week, it was fewer than 3,500.
Dr. Julio Figueroa, head of infectious disease at LSU Health New Orleans, says the main holdouts seem to be the so-called "young invincibles."
"If you look at sort of the age groups that are not being vaccinated, it tends to be the younger folks that think they will have less severe disease," he said.
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Dr. Figueroa says there were also a lot of people who wanted to wait and see how things worked out for other people who got the new vaccines. But after a year, there have been no significant reports of problems or lasting side effects.
"It's been a year so some people have sort of made that as a marker to see if it's been safe," Dr. Figueroa said. "I think that the vaccines have proven to be extremely safe and pretty effective over the long term."
With cases once again at low levels in Louisiana, Dr. Figueroa says anyone thinking of getting the shots should do so now, before cases rise again.