The City of Houston has launched a program to increase the number of Houstonians, especially those who live in the city’s Complete Communities targeted areas, vaccinated, and boosted.

The project, VAX HOU, is a grant-funded program by the Rockefeller Foundation to increase vaccine equity in the African American, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and low-income communities around the city of Houston. The VAX HOU team is working with the Houston Health Department (HHD), the Houston Health Foundation (HHF), and the Mayor’s Health Equity Response (HER) task Force that will host monthly vaccine distribution events across the Houston area.

Even though Covid 19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are leveling off from their rise over the summer of 2022, we should prevent these numbers from increasing again by staying up to date with Covid 19 vaccinations. It is estimated that 77% pf adults over 18 years of age have received a primary series at this point. The bad news is that only half of booster-eligible adults have gotten a booster, and only 34% of adults ages 50 y6ears and older have gotten a second booster. Vaccine effectiveness can decrease over time but boosters restore protection including against serious illness.

These finding highlight that older adults and those with underlying conditions might still be at a higher risk of gettering very sick from the virus. Everyone should stay up-to- date with their Covid 19 vaccines, including getting their boosters.

The current 7-day moving average of daily cases (90,676) decreased 6.7% compared with the previous average (97,184). A total of 93,777,233 Covid 19 cases have been reported in the U.S. as of August 24,2022. Also as of that date, 608.9 million vaccine doses have been ad- ministered in the U.S. Overall about 262.6 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine. About 223.9 million, or 67.4 % of the total population, have been fully vaccinated. Of those fully vaccinated, 108.5million have received a booster dose, but 49.9% have not yet received a booster dose.

So, it is vitally important to continue to educate those in our communities about the importance of being vaccinated and getting boosters in order to increase vaccine rates and decrease infection rates with the end result of maximizing the overall good health and well-being for all of us.

For more information, visit CDC.gov.