Protect yourself from COVID, including the Delta variant: Get the shot

Frisbie Memorial Hospital CEO Tim Jones (FMH photo)

The heroes on our healthcare teams have been fighting through the COVID-19 pandemic for 18 long months. The decrease in cases we saw this spring and summer provided a necessary reprieve but now, with the arrival of the Delta variant, we are witnessing another surge.

The Delta variant is different than last year's virus. It has distinct and worrisome differences from our prior surges. We have seen it spread throughout New Hampshire, especially where vaccine uptake is low. The New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services data shows us that nearly every case of COVID-19 is caused by the Delta variant.

Across the nation - and in New Hampshire - the Delta variant is sending an alarming number of young healthy people, children, and pregnant women to the hospital; some becoming severely ill, requiring ventilators. Sadly, this surge will tragically and unnecessarily cost many lives.

We say unnecessarily because we now have a tool that we didn't have last year: safe and highly effective vaccines that protect people from getting infected by COVID-19, even the Delta variant. More than that, people who are fully vaccinated have tremendous protection and reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and death in those unusual circumstances where they catch a "breakthrough" infection of COVID-19.

Currently, around 54% of New Hampshire's population is fully vaccinated. That's not enough to curb yet another wave of COVID-19 infections this fall. Our moment to fight back against the virus is here. This battle can be won - if we each do our part by getting the vaccine.

Here are a few facts about vaccination that you should know:

• Nationwide, the vast majority of patients hospitalized with the Delta variant are not vaccinated. That means that if you refuse to be vaccinated, based on CDC data, you are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than someone who is fully vaccinated.

• If you have previously been infected with COVID-19, the CDC recommends you still get vaccinated. Prior infection may not protect you against infection with other variants, such as Delta.

• If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, the CDC also recommends that you get vaccinated. A recent study of over 850,000 laboring patients shows that expectant mothers who have COVID-19 when they go through childbirth are approximately 15 times more likely to be put on a ventilator or, tragically, to die. Vaccination is the best protection pregnant women have right now.

• COVID-19 vaccine development has not been "rushed through." Each brand of vaccine has been tested, and scientists have launched extensive randomized controlled trials, the gold standard tools that are used to determine the effectiveness and safety of every life-saving drug.

On behalf of Frisbie Memorial Hospital, Parkland Medical Center and Portsmouth Regional Hospital, we urge you to get your shot as well as vaccinate your children if they are at least 12 years of age. The time is now to protect yourself and your children and join the ranks of New Hampshire residents who have protected their loved ones by getting vaccinated. Go to https://www.vaccines.gov/ to find a vaccine location near you. Go in for your vaccine, and head home knowing that you've done your part. Do it for yourself, do it for our families, do it for our kids.

If you're an employer, you can help by encouraging your employees to get vaccinated and allowing time to get their appointments. If you're a leader in your community -- a pastor, a teacher, a business owner - speak out to encourage others to join you.

If you've already been vaccinated, you still have an important job to do: share your story. Tell others around you why you chose the vaccine and about the confidence you can have knowing you are protected.

If you have questions or concerns, talk to your doctor to get the right information. Too much misinformation is available on the internet; please trust your physicians to give you the most accurate information.

New Hampshire, this is our moment. Together, we can defeat the coronavirus and the Delta variant. Science brought us this far by delivering a safe, effective vaccine. You will take us over the finish line by getting your shot and by helping others get theirs, too. The best vaccine is the one available to you today.

- Tim Jones,

Chief Executive Officer

Frisbie Memorial Hospital

- John Skevington,

Parkland Medical Center

Chief Executive Officer

- Dean Carucci,

Chief Executive Officer

Portsmouth Regional Hospital