SLV public health officials encourage people to get COVID vaccine, booster

SAN LUIS VALLEY — Everyone knows people who have become ill with COVID-19 even after vaccination or previous infection, especially with Omicron, which continues to circulate with high transmissibility. These are known as breakthrough infections.

“We do not have a vaccine that will completely eliminate the transmission of the virus, but transmissibility can be reduced by getting vaccinated and boosted,” SLV public health officials stated.

A study completed in 2022 in California prisons found that among people with COVID-19, those who received at least one dose of vaccine were 24% less likely to spread the virus than unvaccinated individuals were.

People with a previous infection were 21% less likely to spread the infection than those with no previous infection. And people who had been both vaccinated and previously infected were 41% less likely to spread the virus to close contacts compared with individuals who had no previous vaccination or infection.

Each dose of vaccine further reduced the risk of passing on the virus by an additional 12%. How recently a person was vaccinated makes a difference, because the protections provided by vaccine and previous infection begin to fade over time.

Vaccinations and boosters for COVID-19 are available at no cost to you on the vaccine bus from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. unless otherwise noted at the following locations:

Friday at the Steam Train Hotel in Antonito

Saturday at the hockey tournament at Ed Hargraves Park in Creede

Sunday at Dollar Tree in Alamosa

Tuesday at SLV Behavioral Health Group at 1443 Highway 160 in Del Norte

Wednesday at the Fort Garland Museum

Thursday, Jan. 19, at the ASU Richardson parking lot, 208 Edgemont in Alamosa

Friday, Jan. 20, at Family Dollar in La Jara

Saturday, Jan. 21, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Alamosa Parks and Recreation youth hockey games

Information about COVID-19 data, testing, and vaccination in the San Luis Valley can be found at www.slvphp.com/slv-covid-19-information.