Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Clinical version of "dog bites man." Doesn't mean it shouldn't be written and published - and doesn't mean Azrael shouldn't tell us - but it's obvious. Excellent use of numbers and stats in the first and third grafs. Makes it more difficult for the anti-vaxxers and deniers to dismiss.

 

US Senator Roger Wicker announces he's COVID positive for a second time

 

I think @BTExpress raises an interesting question, which is how we wound up with so many vaccinated, but unboosted, seniors. That's what we're talking about.

Why get the first two shots, but resist the third?

It doesn't make sense.

 

Australia welcomes back tourists with toy koalas, Tim Tams

 

I have a theory. It might be logistically difficult for some elderly folks to get it done. When this began, most people accepted the two-shot course and sort of hoped that would be it. The booster — doing it a third time — might be a bridge too far for some.

 

The push for boosters in FL was non-existent. There was so much thirst for the original shots. Appointments, waiting, mass injections clinics. None of that happened for the boosters. There was three people getting one at Publix when I got mine. Also, with the original shots, people giving shots went to senior housing. Not sure that happened for the boosters.

 

It wasn't until the omicron surge that Massachusetts reopened one mass vaccination site for boosters at Fenway Park. All the same, well over half of those with two shots have now had their third. It's about 40 percent of the state's total population and I assume for seniors it's much much higher. Of course almost everyone I know is a fellow senior and to the best of my knowledge they all got boosted well before last Thanksgiving.

 

See How Vaccinations Are Going in Your County and State

 

Man, look at how awful Florida is!

 

It makes perfect sense in the minds of people who have been conditioned to always believe the prevailing wisdom is wrong and they’re being lied to for nefarious reasons.

“They said two shots would protect me and they LIED!”

“How many of these things do they expect me to get?!”

And, not for nothing, the fact that Omicron broke through didn’t do us any favors.

And, the idea being pushed that natural immunity is “better” than vaccine-induced immunity fills that void for people who don’t understand that the situation is and has always been constantly evolving.

 

Midpack when it comes to vaccinated and boosted.

Perhaps weirdly, of the states, New Hampshire is worst at 14%. Vermont, a foot-and-a-half to the left, is best at 46%.

California at 33%. Florida at 25%.

Again, if we say that Florida is home to a disproportionate number of American elderly, should we not have made a more concerted effort to get the oldsters boosted?

And what accounts for the gap?

Is it mis/distrust? Covid exhaustion? Limited accessiblity?

https://www.tampabay.com/news/healt...l-in-new-cases-suggests-end-of-omicron-surge/

The number of people getting boosters also hit a new low, with just 24,004 shots administered in the past week. Just 23 percent of the state’s population has been boosted. Florida has the 12th-lowest booster rate among eligible residents, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health experts say boosters offer the best protection against omicron.

 

I think these state-by-state comparisons that we do here obscure the de facto implementation of that "strategy" Topol was discussing in your earlier link. Look at Sumter County, Fla. (which is where The Villages are). Overall vaccination percentage is 79%, 65+ percentage is 95% and boosted percentage is 43%. You see similar patterns in other especially seniors-heavy counties there.

So could more have been done (neither you nor I is part of any "we" that would have influenced vaccination uptake in Florida)? Of course. But just because more wasn't done doesn't mean a goodly amount wasn't done.