JACKSONVILLE, Fla — UF Health says there’s never been a vaccine created that is 100 percent effective and over 95 percent of COVID cases doctors are seeing with people being hospitalized around the country are not vaccinated.
“You hear so many people saying if I'm going to get it anyway or if I can get it anyway? Why get vaccinated? And the simple answer is my son," said Bishop Rudolph McKissick.
McKissick’s 23-Year-old son Joshua has been fully vaccinated since March. McKissick says Joshua has been cautious throughout the pandemic but just last week Joshua wasn’t feeling like himself.
“He started feeling a little fatigued and had a cough last Friday and his mother noticed he was a little warm," said McKissick.
Joshua got tested on Monday for COVID and on Tuesday his results showed he was positive for COVID-19.
“The vaccination is the difference between my son being in the ICU, me possibly planning a funeral and my son being upstairs in his room," said McKissick.
Dr. Chirag Patel assistant chief medical officer at UF Health Jacksonville says while the three COVID vaccines are not 100% effective, they will prevent the majority of individuals who are vaccinated from getting COVID.
“When we describe this as a pandemic of the unvaccinated that’s what's really impacting. The people who have not yet gotten their shot," said Dr. Patel.
Just like a seat belt isn’t a guarantee you’ll survive a car wreck it can save your life and that’s the idea behind the vaccine.
"The special thing about these three COVID vaccines are they are some of the most highly effective vaccines that we ever created in the history of mankind, preventing us from getting COVID to the point it’ll make us severely ill or die," said Dr. Patel.