This interview is from SDPB's daily public-affairs show, In the Moment, hosted by Lori Walsh.

A Rapid City physician says the best way to end the coronavirus pandemic is to get a COVID vaccine.

Dr. Shankar Kurra is the vice-president of medical affairs at Monument Health in Rapid City.

He says all that people need to do is get a free shot.

“We actually have the perfect solution, which is the vaccine,” Kurra says. “It is safe. It is effective—in other words it prevents you from getting seriously ill or dying. Most importantly, it is readily available. This is not something you can say in any other country outside of the developed world.”

The number of vaccinated South Dakotans is slowly rising. Fifty-Eight percent of South Dakotans have received the full vaccine series.

Kurra says if the state can get to an 80 percent vaccine rate it will help prevent surges in hospitals in the future.