Our Labor Against Covid-19 Yields Inadequate Results!
Shortly after Labor Day of 2020, the question we asked was “Will YOU take the COVID-19 Vaccine?”. At that time, we had lost 191,000 Americans and 6.4 million US cases had been diagnosed. A CBS/U.gov poll revealed at that time that only 21% of voters said they would take a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it became available. Fast forward to Labor Day, 2021 where we have three safe and effective vaccines and yet 25% of eligible Americans have not been fully vaccinated. The seven-day new case average this Labor Day (9/6/21) was 300% higher than the last holiday of the last summer. There have been 40 million cases in the US and 655,389 American deaths since this pandemic began. The data shows that these devastating trends are accelerating with daily hospitalizations having increased four-fold since the beginning of the summer of 2021 and deaths per day have more than tripled, 594 vs. 1561. Over 90% of these cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are PREVENTABLE since they are occurring in the unvaccinated! We now have vaccines available.
The push to get people vaccinated is designed to allow us to return to more of a normalcy in our economic, educational, family, and leisure lives. One of the mainstays of this effort is keeping our children back to in-classroom instruction. Since our school kids have not been surrounded by vaccinated individuals, their classroom experiences are again being disrupted. Across the nation, 1400 schools in 35 different states have had to temporarily shut down. In Kentucky 20% of the schools have closed at some point since reopening this year due to infections, quarantines, or Covid induced personnel shortages. In addition, 25% of the new cases are in children. We are not doing our part in protecting the kids who are under 12 and thus not able to be vaccinated.
Although access to a vaccination is not an issue for Americans 12 and over, only 75% of that population has availed themselves to this protection. Misinformation and disinformation are driving too many citizens to remain unvaccinated. Both of these categories are false information, the former being unintentional and the latter being the intentional and malicious misleading of others. The subject of “information” in both categories generally revolves around vaccine development, effectiveness, safety, and all too often outright denial. Knowing that our ticket out of this pandemic is through vaccination, our country needs for the unvaccinated to change their course and get their shots. This is their pandemic but their being unvaccinated affects all of us. We must listen to their objections, process their motives or rationale, and then give them the facts. Nothing more perfectly typifies dis/misinformation than the current controversy regarding ivermectin. This drug is approved for human use, in appropriate doses, for very specific parasitic diseases. It is much more commonly used in higher doses in large animals like horses and cattle. Unfortunately, many of the purveyors of vaccine misinformation have erroneously latched onto this drug as a treatment for Covid-19. This has resulted in delays in vaccination and the legitimate treatment of those infected. Studies and statements from organizations like the AMA, FDA, and CDC have revealed that ivermectin is not beneficial against Covid-19. We must continue to labor to overcome the acceptance of politically motivated dis/mis-information over the demonstrated safety and effectiveness from hundreds of millions of vaccinations.
The scientific community has provided us with tested and researched means of fighting this Covid-19 disease including vaccines, masks, monoclonal antibodies, corticosteroids, social distancing, and other mitigation measures. Yet we can only shake our heads at the maskless crowds already seen this fall in college football stadia. Some medical experts are warning of a phenomenon called a “multidemic” as the post Labor Day Covid-19 surge is added to seasonal flu and colds. Covid-19 mitigation measures, such as masking and social distancing prevented thousands of influenza deaths last year. Politicians and politics are preventing the reimplementation of these mandates.
We must take matters into our own hands by following CDC guidelines. Mask while in crowds indoors, irrespective of vaccination status, and avoid large crowds of potentially unvaccinated folks. WASH your hands and get your flu shot when it becomes available.
