Vaccination rates in the Three Rivers Health District have significantly increased over the past couple of weeks, but Dr. Richard Williams of the Three Rivers Health District said even higher rates are needed to stop the surge of COVID-19 cases.

After the initial deluge of people who were eager to get vaccinated once COVID-19 vaccines were first approved, vaccination rates had dropped to about 200 or 300 a week in the district, said Williams. When people started hearing about the Delta variant’s higher transmissibility rate and impact on younger populations, vaccination rates began to pick up, and now they’re up to around 1,500 shots in arms per week.

“It’s tied to people understanding they’re in a dangerous situation, that the virus poses a personal risk to them,” said Williams. “We’re in an extremely dangerous period.”

In the early days of the pandemic, he said, victims were primarily the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions that made them vulnerable. Those ...