Cases are down, but officials remain worried about another surge, in part because of a limited supply of vaccines in South Carolina, especially in underserved communities, assistant state epidemiologist Dr. Jane Kelly said Wednesday. The state’s Department of Health and Environment Control (DHEC) announced 228 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, bringing the statewide total to 456,296.
“We’re concerned about people of color who live in rural areas who may not have internet access or even an email address, who are unable to navigate the complicated system of making an appointment to get vaccinated and we’re trying to address that and working with our vaccine providers who are running mass vaccination events, who have mobile clinics going out to some of these underserved areas to try and mitigate these disparities,” Dr. Kelly told WIS News 10.
According to DHEC’s vaccine dashboard, a total of 1,794,228 doses of the three vaccines have been received by South Carolina residents. The state has used 97% of its allocated Pfizer vaccine but just 68% of its Moderna allocation and 42% of its Janssen doses.
Out of 24,026 test results Wednesday, 4.5% were positive.
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