Health officials encourage those who are unvaccinated to get vaccinated as numbers begin to stall

HOUSTON - As the number of Covid-19 cases rises once again across the nation, there's another strong push from health care officials to get the unvaccinated to change their minds.

According to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, among American adults who have not yet received a vaccine, 35% say they probably will not, and 45% say they definitely will not, and just 3% say they definitely will get the shots, though another 16% say they probably will.

FOX 26 spoke with residents in Fort Bend and Harris Counties and saw a mixed bag of responses.

"Yes, I’m vaccinated," said Alexis Waterburry, resident of Fort Bend County. "To be safe is my number one reason, I’m in the healthcare field. I take care of patients and It’s my responsibility to be safe on my end."

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Her good friend, Bethany Huerta, has chosen not to get vaccinated.

"No I haven’t yet, I want to see more about it," said Huerta. "I want to see more statistics, more information short and long term side-effects."

Healthcare systems are now seeing the result of the higher rates, as hospitalizations start to increase once more.

"Within our system, we’ve got over 400 patients hospitalized with Covid," said Annamaria Macaluso Davidson, with Memorial Herman. "And only three weeks ago, it was about 100, so it’s a four-fold increase."

Debbie Dartford, who lives in the Deer Creek areas, spoke with FOX 26 on Monday. She tells us, she and her husband have decided to not get vaccinated. For the Dartford’s, the risk outweighs the benefits. 

"I am not getting the vaccine, not going to do it," said Dartford. "There have been instances of people  getting Guillain-Barre syndrome, it may be a minimal amount but the chance is still there."

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FOX 26 reached out to Memorial Herman about this concern, they say it is a rare response that’s possible with any vaccine. 

"It’s very rare, it’s a response from your immune system which kind of makes it over-react," said Davidson. "When we’ve heard about and looked at the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, there’s over 12.8 million who have taken it and roughly 100 preliminary reports of that one adverse event."

Vaccination rates are have stalled. Harris County Public Health saying 44.6% of its population has been fully vaccinated.