Booster Shots Alone Will Not Rid US of This Pandemic Pain
We continue to suffer the pain of illness, hospitalization, death, educational disruption, and economic and social upheaval because of the persistence of this COVID-19 pandemic. The ongoing impact of this virus is fueled by those who are unwilling to get vaccinated. A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals the motivation for many of the Americans who have changed their minds and joined the ranks of the vaccinated. The study of people vaccinated since June 1 shows that 39% were motivated by concerns about the highly transmissible Delta variant, 38% by the burden on the hospitals, and 36% because they knew of someone who had died from Covid-19. Additionally, considering that a person could give multiple areas of concern, 35% reported vaccination due to activity requirements such as travel, 19% cited employer mandate, and 15% stated that the FDA full approval of the Pfizer vaccination was part of their rationale. Only 2% citing this as the main reason. This report also found that the biggest lag in vaccination was in low-income populations, rural populations, and among Republicans.
Another group that is suffering mightily from the lack of vaccination is pregnant people. The CDC issued an urgent Health Advisory on September 29th strongly recommending urgent action to increase COVID-19 vaccination among people who might become pregnant, attempting pregnancy, pregnant, or recently pregnant (including those lactating). The data shows that “97% of pregnant people hospitalized with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were UNVACCINATED”! Racial inequities are apparent in this data as well. Specifically, full vaccination coverage exists in 15.6% of the pregnant non-Hispanic Black people compared to a better, but still low, 31% of the entire group of pregnant people.
In total, seventy million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated. Our fully vaccinated rate of 63% puts us behind Canada, United Kingdom, China, several large south American countries, much of the European Union, and many other countries. Many eligible Americans have failed to get their first shot. Nevertheless, the CDC has approved a booster, or third shot, for certain Pfizer vaccine recipients because of concerns regarding decreasing immunity over time. The booster recommendation is for people over age 65 and residents in long term care settings; people aged 18-64 with underlying medical conditions including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney, lung, and heart disease; people aged 18-64 who are at increased risk of Covid-19 exposure because of their jobs. The booster for Moderna and J&J recipients is still under evaluation. Although the boosters will provide additional protection for those already reasonable well protected by their initial Pfizer series, our much larger problem is the considerable number of Americans who remain unvaccinated. The Covid-19 death rate is four times higher in the ten states with the lowest vaccination rates. The overwhelming majority (90%) of those hospitalized and dying from COVID-19 are unvaccinated (most are preventable!).
As previously stated, at least some of the increase in vaccinations is due to the vaccine mandates implemented for the federal and large business civilian workforce. The legality of the vaccine mandates in health care facilities is being upheld locally by a Federal judge in Covington who declared that” Actual liberty for all of us cannot exist where individual liberties override potential injury done to others.” This reinforces the medical soundness of each of us doing what we can to protect each other.
The journey toward extricating us from this pandemic by enough people becoming fully vaccinated will be helped by younger kids getting approval for vaccination. Once they are vaccinated it will leave fewer potential victims for this virus and its variants to infect. The virus is hospitalizing 30,000 kids a month. Having vaccines available for children aged 5-11 will be a huge relief to children, parents, and educators. Pfizer has submitted its data to the FDA and a decision is anticipated in 4-6 weeks. In the meantime, it is essential for children to be masked in school. Three studies analyzed by the CDC this week show a 3.7 times risk of COVD-19 outbreaks in schools with no mask requirements compared to schools with early masking.
Our ticket out is vaccination, so encourage all around you to get vaccinated and shorten this trek.
