The Alabama Department of Public Health says more Alabamians need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity.
So far ADPH says that nearly 1.8 million Alabamians have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine. Only 32% of the state population has been fully vaccinated.
Dr. Rachael Lee is a part of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UAB. She said that there is proof that incentive programs work in helping to get the public fully vaccinated in other states. She thinks the state of Alabama has a really good incentive right in front of them.
"Alabama has these programs they could potentially look into, um including football because we all love football. So if we wanted to try to do something like that I think, that would be wonderful,” she said.
Many businesses sent their employees to work from home back last year and now that people are getting vaccinated those businesses want their workers to get back to the office.
Lee said businesses have a tough decision ahead of them when deciding what business model to use.
“I think some work is really well suited for working from home, but at the same time there is something to be said about being here and being part of a team," she said. "You have to weigh those risks and benefits when you’re doing something like this.”
The Alabama Department of Public Health says more Alabamians need to be vaccinated to reach heard immunity. So far nearly 3.3 million vaccines have been administered across the state.
The state of Alabama’s COVID-19 public health order expired in May, and the state is approaching the end of the State of Emergency that expires July 6. The Alabama Department of Public Health says that there are 407 sites available across the state to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
