The news broke Friday morning that after the midsummer emergence of the Delta Variant in the U.S., half of the U.S. Population is now fully vaccinated. I will join that number myself by the end of this month.
As has been reported across the media since last week, there has been a surge in new vaccinations and it is continue to trend upwards going into this coming weekend. Over 70% of the vaccinations given since last Friday were first-time shots or Single Shots from J&J, the remaining 30% the second shot from Pfizer or Moderna's 2-shot vaccines.
Where is the surge in new vaccinations coming from? States that went into July with the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Missouri, Alabama, Arkanas and Tennessee all reported record high daily numbers of new vaccinations in the tens of thousands since last Friday.
This is being driven by holdouts and hesitants alike getting a reality check from either getting infected themselves or seeing loved ones getting infected with the Delta Variant. This is in addition to various employers, businesses and colleges recently imposing vaccine mandates.
Did you have COVID-19 before? Me too. The data shows those who previously had COVID-19 will have immunity for about 90 days afterward. You could easily get fully vaccinated within that 90-day window. New data also confirms those who previously had COVID-19 are 3 times more likely to be infected again and 5 times as likely to be infected with the Delta Variant. If being sick with COVID-19 once before was not reason enough alone to get vaccinated, I don't know what is.
Germany (53.7% fully vaccinated), the UK (58.3%) and France (49.4%) have joined Israel (59.5%) in beginning to offer vaccine boosters to the fully vaccinated. The criteria for getting a vaccine booster is you have to have been fully vaccinated for at least 6 months.
This decision is not without countroversy as none of the of four countries have the majority of their respective populations fully vaccinated yet. More importantly, most of the world has not received one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine either. The World Health Organization and COVAX have both asked these four countries and others who may be looking into offering vaccine boosters to hold off on offering booster shots until October to allow time for most of the world to at least get their first shot of a vaccine.
The CDC and the FDA announced they will have a framework for introducing vaccine boosters in the U.S. by early September. This announcement comes the same day Moderna seconded Pfizer's assessment vaccine boosters will be needed sooner than later. Speaking of. An FDA researcher just revealed Friday afternoon that based on the data they currently have, after someone gets a third (or second) booster shot, they will not need to get another one. In other words, no annual or 6-month booster shots after the third (or second) shot is done. This is big news to say the least.
As of today, 15.2% of the world is fully vaccinated. That's 1.8 Billion people. In addition, 4.36 Billion people--half the world--are partially vaccinated. We will need to get the global vaccination percentage above 85% to truly say we have COVID-19 under control. India, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, The Philippines, South Korea, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Vietnam are some of the many countries that are sure to need international help getting their populations fully vaccinated. Malta currently leads the world with 77.5% of the country now fully vaccinated.
Assuming a variant that escapes all available vaccines doesn't emerge before it happens, I do think COVID-19 can be brought under control globally with the currently available vaccines. It's just a matter of getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. This is easily the biggest and most complex challenge in human history so far because it involves fully vaccinating at least 90% of the entire human population of over 8 Billion. I am setting aside the remaining 10%--a little under 1 Billion people--who are those who can't be vaccinated for various reasons including Indiginous People.
Once we reach 60% fully vaccinated globally, it would be fair to say we have contained the Global Pandemic. There will then be more of a regional focus in getting people vaccinated as new infections and deaths drastically fall. Once we reach 80% fully vaccinated globally, it would be fair to say the Global Pandemic is over. There will still be places with low vaccination rates but by that point, enough of the world will be fully vaccinated to divert vaccination efforts to them. New infections and deaths to COVID-19 in most of the world will likely no longer be reported to the World Health Organization.
Once global vaccination rates reach 90%, it would be fair to say we've won the war with COVID-19. I do think all of this can happen by 2024. More and more countries are seeing that the vaccines are working so it's a race against time to vaccinate as many people as possible before another variant emerges.
One FDA Researcher who has access to the data on it is now saying with certainty that the proposed Vaccine Booster Shot will likely be the knockout blow to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Not just the Delta Variant but future strains as well. Even better is there will be no need for additional shots after that.
If that alone isn't reason enough to want to get fully vaccinated now, I don't know what is.
If you have enjoyed this post or other posts I have made on this blog, please consider making a monetary donation via PayPal. Whatever amount you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
WordPress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment