The Medical University of South Carolina says its number of COVID-19 patients has tripled compared to one month ago.
Of those patients, 25% have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and even fewer have received three doses.
MUSC officials expect the number of COVID-19 patients to continue to rise for at least several weeks. They say the surge is due to the Omicron variant, which appears to cause milder illness, but is highly transmissible.
With Omicron, vaccine effectiveness dropped to 40% but increased to 80% with a third dose or booster vaccine.
The effectiveness of older monoclonal antibody infusions is reduced when it comes to fighting Omicron. MUSC says a newer drug- one more effective against Omicron- is in very low supply throughout the country.
A newer oral medication is also in limited supply.
"We need more people to be optimally protected from severe sickness now to reduce the demand for infusions," MUSC officials said.
Patrick J. Cawley, MD- the CEO of MUSC Health- recommends everyone get the third dose booster immediately to combat the spread of the variant.
MUSC Health recently added the expectation of a third booster to its vaccine policy for employees.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows people who were fully vaccinated with a booster dose had lower case rates than those without.