FRANKLIN COUNTY, Wash. — Currently Franklin County is the fifth least fully vaccinated county in the entire state of Washington.
This comes after the Washington state data found only 21 percent of residents in Franklin County are fully vaccinated.
Health officials says 21 percent is nowhere near the number it needs to be to provide herd immunity.
Now doctors are debunking COVID vaccine myths and reminding residents the vaccine is safe.
"Vaccines are safe and you have to make the decisions that are right for yourself but I encourage everyone to get vaccinated because we do have vulnerable people in our communities and we want to to protect them as well and the best way we can do that is to get vaccinated," Paul Sherman, Chief Medical Officer, Community Health Plan of Washington said.
Sherman says one of the most common myths about the COVID vaccine is it can harm your DNA.
According to Sherman, the DNA myth stems from Pfizer and Moderna vaccines containing Messenger RNA.
"It's important to note that Messenger RNA doesn't do anything to your DNA it's called messenger because it takes messages from your DNA to the rest of the cell to tell the cell what do and what these vaccines basically do is they slide in with the postman going out and taking the Messenger RNA to the rest of the cell and that's how they produce the reaction to get the antibodies," Sherman said.
Sherman tells Action News it's important to check your facts on trusted sources like the CDC and Washington Department of Health websites.