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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Governor Edwards announced he is fearful of another coronavirus surge ahead of this holiday weekend.

35% of Louisianans are now vaccinated, but Edwards says more people still need to get their shot.

“We can parse it if you want to, but the fact of the matter is we have more hesitancy than we want, and it’s taking much longer to get people vaccinated than we would like,” Edwards said.

Edwards is urging everyone to be careful, so the state doesn’t go backward as it did after Christmas and New Years’ when hundreds lost their lives.

“If you’re not vaccinated, and you’re not masked, distanced, and you’re not outdoors, you can expect the same thing to happen in your family, and certainly it’s going to happen in other families across the state,” Edwards said.

The push for more shots comes as the Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for ages 12-15. Louisiana’s Department of Health’s Dr. Joe Kanter is asking parents to get prepared. Kanter says parents should make an appointment with their child’s pediatrician and get educated about the vaccine.

“These vaccines, just as the Governor said, prevent the chance that you’re going to spread COVID to someone else, so by getting younger individuals vaccinated, it’s an opportunity to protect everyone in that household,” Dr. Kanter said.

The vaccine is now available at more than 1,500 locations in the state.

Louisianans can now use the LA wallet app to have a digital version of their vaccination card.

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