It was the news Health officials and most politicians in the U.S. have been waiting on for most of the year.
The New York Times broke the news Monday evening that the FDA is expected to grant full FDA Approval to Pfizer/BionTech's COVID-19 Vaccine as soon as the end of this month.
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is the second most used vaccine globally. Only Oxford/AstraZenica's is used in more countries. Pfizer teamed up with Germany-based BionTech--I realized with this article I have been mistakenly calling it "BioTech" up to now--to develop their COVID-19 vaccine. BionTech developed it but Pfizer is manufacturing and distributing it.
Pfizer's vaccine is a 2-shot mRNA vaccine. The first shot builds immunity and the second shot reinforces it. The second shot is administered three weeks after the first. When fully vaccinated, Pfizer's vaccine gives 95.1% protection from COVID-19 including the Delta Variant. You are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving your second shot and this is also true for Moderna's 2-Shot mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
Speaking of.
Moderna announced Thursday morning that their vaccine will hold an effectiveness of up to 93% for six months before it begins to decline. The Cambridge, Massachusetts based company also said a booster shot will be needed because of the Delta Variant, rising Breakthrough Infection cases and growing concerns a new variant even more dangerous than the Delta Variant will emerge soon. No doubt the U.S. Government will buy additional doses from Moderna for that purpose like they did with Pfizer after they made the same announcement at the end of June.
Finally, Moderna announced they now have officially applied for their vaccine to get full FDA Approval. The fact that they publicly shared the other things first is probably the bigger story and more so for those who are already fully vaccinated. It means you will need to keep track of when you got your second shot and count ahead 5 or 6 months. If you were fully vaccinated by the end of May, you'll be getting a booster in November for example.
The news from Pfizer and Moderna comes just as a boost in new U.S. vaccinations were reported last week. According to the data, those new vaccinations are in areas that currently have low vaccination rates. Very encouraging news to say the least. The vaccination rate is now projected to continue to trend upward in part because of some employers, companies, businesses and now the U.S. Military recently mandating vaccination.
Now that all 50 governors have a timeline for when to expect full FDA approval for the two most used COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., Healthcare experts are hopeful this will remove the psychological block some of the Unvaccinated have had to now.
No one is under any illusion that the U.S. will reach 100% vaccination. There are simply too many people who've decided even if there is a mandate, they will not get vaccinated no matter what. That's their choice like it or not. I have been following some of the chatter online and many primarily in faith communities are saying they will just wait out the Pandemic and only go to public areas when necessary.
If that was it, that would be fine. Get a load of this: A key part of their "wait things out" strategy is to rely on those they know who are fully vaccinated to do things for them. Doesn't that come across as selfish and lazy to you? They don't want to get vaccinated themselves but they want to use those who are conveniently. People will get tired of that before long because it's really, really not cool to think it's ok to do that to people.
Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey--appointed when Marty Walsh resigned as mayor to accept a position in President Biden's cabinet--responded to the news of vaccine mandates in New York City with criticism. She compared the idea of people having to carry and show proof of vaccination to Slavery and Birtherism.
Although she was commenting on what's going on in New York City, I also know for a fact the mayor's office has been getting angry phone calls from City of Boston employees--that includes teachers and other school staff, firefighters, police, EMTs and the Boston Public Library--and others who are opposed to a vaccine mandate for months. Her words were mostly meant for her consitutents and employees to hear more than CNN which picked it up through their local affiliate (WCVB, Channel 5).
This week Federal and State government officials nationwide have mostly been quickly moving away from the idea of imposing Vaccine Mandates and more so now that the private sector is doing that on their own. Mayor Janey's comments are clearly meant to reassure those who refuse to be vaccinated no matter what as well as those who are fully vaccinated who don't like the idea of having to carry around their vaccination card everywhere. It certainly should not be seen as her taking a shot at her New York City counterpart.
Boston and Massachusetts both have vaccination rates above 70% which puts us in a much better position to say "no vaccination or mask mandate is necessary" compared to Florida for example. It also helps most people over here--the unvaccinated included--are willing to wear a mask in public places when necessary. The Delta Variant is surging in a few communities right now but vaccination rates are high enough to make another statewide lockdown unnecessary.
All that said. We will have to wait until October or early November to find out if the U.S. vaccination rate can reach or pass 80%. Right now, at least 71% of the U.S. is partially vaccinated. If those folks follow through and get their second shot on time, we could reach 80% or 85% by the end of the year. We will need to reach at least 80% to truly say this Pandemic is under control in the U.S. More so given both Pfizer and Moderna should have full FDA approval by the end of the year and Vaccine Boosters will likely start being offered this coming winter.
Researchers and Healthcare experts are trying to get ahead of the next Variant expected to emerge at any time among the unvaccinated and that's why they have been urging people to get vaccinated for months. We now have the raw data that basically proves the Vaccine Boosters will not only prettymuch shut down the Delta Variant but most likely contain the next variant to emerge.
I want to end with this because it's really, REALLY important for context.
The Philippines has a population of around 110 Million people. As of this week, around 11% of the country is fully vaccinated. The reason is the exact opposite of the U.S.: Not enough vaccines for everyone who wants one--and the demand for U.S. vaccines in particular is very, VERY high over there.
Last weekend The Philippines received an aditional 3 Million Pfizer Vaccines from the U.S. via COVAX, which is an International Organization that specializes in distributing vaccines to Low-Income and Low-Medium Income countries. The Philippines now has 40 Million vaccines and they need at least 200 Million more doses to fully vaccinate the entire country.
The Philippines has at least 10 different COVID-19 vaccines available from 7 different countries including all three currently available in the U.S. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is the one they have the largest supply of followed by China's Sinovac vaccine.
Speaking of. China has recently been dealing with a surge in breakthrough infections that ended in deaths in recent weeks. They were able to determine someone from Moscow who recently flew to Beijng and later tested positive for the Delta Variant--that person was fully vaccinated--unknowingly spread the Delta Variant in China. All of those who were fully vaccinated in China that got very sick or died from the Delta Variant had the Sinovac vaccine.
Unlike Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines, Sinovac's is not an mRNA vaccine. We know from the data currently available that the chances of you getting sevrely ill or dying from the Delta Variant or COVID-19 in general if you were fully vaccinated with either mRNA vaccine is very, VERY low. China is probably going to try to figure out for sure if the Delta Variant has Escaped their vaccines. If it is confirmed, everyone who was already vaccinated with Sinovac will likely need a booster ASAP.
In June, The Biden Administration announced the U.S. will donate 80 Million excess COVID-19 vaccine doses to countries that need them, the majority going to countries in the Western Hemisphere. This is aside from the 500 Million doses the U.S bought from Pfizer in June specifically to donate to COVAX (which the G7 matched) for a total of 580 Million vaccine doses going to countries that need them.
Wouldn't it be sad if most of the world got COVID-19 under contol through vaccination before the U.S.? Well that's what's most likely to happen at the current rate. China leads the world in total Vaccines given at over 1.7 Billion, which accounts for almost half its total population of almost 3.6 Billion. They are followed by India (Almost 500 Million) and then the U.S. at 349 Million.
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