If you haven't got your COVID shots, you are assuming a great deal of risk, say public health officials.
New Orleans Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno puts it bluntly:
"You are now at high risk," said Dr. Avegno. "If a virus is going to come, you are taking on that risk of potential serious outcome."
The director of New Orleans Health Dept. says people who continue to remain unvaccinated also take on the risk of passing the disease on to someone else, including young children not yet eligible for the vaccine, or imunnocomprosed people who get less protection from the vaccine.
"You're also taking on that risk of spreading it to a child who can't be vaccinated yet, or a loved one who might have an immune disorder that makes it even more challenging for them to develop immunity," she said.
While more than 40 percent of New Orleans has had both the Pfizer or Moderna shots, or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Avegno says it will take much more than that to slow the spread.
