After today’s press conference with MUSC Health CEO Dr. Patrick Cawley urging citizens to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg summarized his remarks in the following statement:
“In recent days, I’ve heard people call this ‘a pandemic of the unvaccinated,’ and that’s true. But thanks to these extraordinary vaccines, it’s also an “optional pandemic”—the first optional pandemic in human history. That’s right, folks—we have the option of ending this pandemic in our area. All we have to do is get vaccinated. Would there still be a breakthrough case here and there? Sure. But it wouldn’t be a pandemic anymore—and it wouldn’t affect schools or businesses or require us to wear masks or anything else. We could finally and fully get back to our normal lives. And the good news is that that’s within reach here in Charleston, where 64 percent of all eligible citizens have already received at least one dose of the vaccine. So let’s go, Charleston. Let’s finish the job. Let’s get everyone who’s eligible vaccinated. Let’s end this optional pandemic together.”