Monmouth County officials and pharmacists say they are seeing a renewed interest in people wanting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Pharmacists at the Belmar Town Pharmacy say the delta variant and an increase in case numbers is leading to more people wanting tests and vaccines.

According to the Monmouth County commissioners, more than half of the towns in the county have at least 70% of their population vaccinated. All towns are at least 50% vaccinated. 

Despite an increase in cases, officials say there have been no significant increases in hospitalizations or deaths in Monmouth County.

Pharmacist Sam Shah, of the Belmar Town Pharmacy, says things have changed since vaccination interest basically dropped to near-nothing in May and June.

“I would say last three or four weeks it went up, I would say, 40% to 50% for us…so that was pretty good,” Shah says. “A lot more people are calling for the vaccines now, so we have more and more appointments scheduled already.”

Local pharmacies are asking those interested in getting vaccinated to call ahead and schedule an appointment first.