I still see about half or more of the people masked when I go into stores in Southern California. Our mask mandate ended June 15th. I wear a mask in stores because there are a lot of kids when I’m shopping that are too young to be vaccinated.
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I think that, for the time being, a vaccinated person in most of the NE is not taking much of a risk being without a mask, even indoors.
Vaccination rates in NE between 54% fully vaccinated in NH to 65% fully vaccinated in VT. Vaccination rates for adults vary between 65% for 18 and up in NH to 75% in VT. Rates of positive testing are between 0.7% in NH and under 0.5% in VT.
These may change when the Delta variant arrives, but, since the vaccines used provide protection against this variant, it is unlikely that we will see more than some local outbreaks, particularly in some of the counties with relatively lower vaccination rates, like Hillsborough County, NH (49%) or Somerset County, ME (45%).
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One of my nieces says she won’t get vaccinated because she had a bad reaction to her flu shot last year. Is that a valid reason? Then again, last week she posted a link on FB to an article lauding the benefits of hydroxychloroquine as a covid treatment, so she may have other reasons she’s not telling her relatives.
Just got one of my reluctant kids shot #1. She kept saying she would do it, when she had time, when she was off work…She’s headed to Missouri (death valley) for a month and I told her in May I really wanted her to be vaccinated before going there. Told her last Sat to get it done. Silence. She said she’d do it yesterday, but didn’t. She was worried about feeling sick while she was driving tomorrow but I told her she’d be fine. Now she’s all worried about it but it’s a done deal.
One thing that was strange was the pharmacy assistant said if she didn’t get the second shot within 6 weeks she’d have to start the series again. I don’t think that’s correct. Some countries are spreading them out 4-5 months (I know they are different than Pfizer) but start over? I hadn’t heard that. She’ll be back in a month and probably get the next shot then.
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Different brands of flu vaccines have different ingredients, as do different brands of COVID-19 vaccines. So if it is a reaction to an ingredient of the vaccine, it depends on whether that ingredient is in the next vaccine.
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The Delta variant showing its stuff in Australia:
There was a party of approx. 30 people in in a suburb of Sydney- the Delta variant was a surprise guest.
24 people at the party were unvaccinated.
6 people at the party (health care workers) were fully vaccinated.
One person at the party (aged care worker) was partially vaccinated with one dose.
Guess which 24 people contracted the Delta virus? All 24 of the unvaccinated persons.
Neither the vaccinated guests nor the partially vaccinated person caught the virus.
If that’s not a great endorsement of vaccination, I don’t know what is.
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I have a close relative living in Australia who says that vaccinations are offered to all at this point but that they “aren’t in a rush.” I’m wondering if this will change with the Delta variant.
Are vaccines readily available to all in Australia, or is it merely that eligibility has opened up to all in Australia? Some of the recent news from Australia indicates that there are supply shortages, especially of the Pfizer - BioNTech vaccine (versus the more plentiful locally produced Oxford - AstraZeneca vaccine that has had bad news about blood clotting issues).
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Why Novavax versus one of the others that are already out there? Sorry, I just realized how nosy that sounds - feel free to ignore me!
Not sure if this is a helpful tip or not but my son discovered upon getting shot #2 and feeling “weirdly achey” the next day that if you get up and move around you can shake it off. He and friends took off for an outing and he did a lot of walking that day and felt completely fine by afternoon. No ibuprofin and/or Tylenol needed. I wonder if it’s a simple matter of getting blood flow to the muscles (nb: this is not an expert medical observation).
Not sure - they might be basing their comment on what’s available in NSW which is where they live.
It’s not doing as well in Israel. DIsclaimer: 1) I am not trying to dissuade people from getting vaccinated. 2) Even though it’s hitting the vaccinated, those cases are not as bad. 3) I copied and pasted this link so am not responsible for its content.
That page says that “An analysis by UK health officials found that two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine were 88% effective against Delta while a single shot was 33% effective. That’s compared with 95% efficacy against the original strain, or 52% after one shot.”
(Of course, one-of-two dose effectiveness number that have been reported are all over the place.)
I just looked up our most recent county vax stats. 37.5% with another 5.1% partially vaccinated. There are another 10% in confirmed or probable cases, but those include kids too young to vaccinate, some who had it who still got vaccinated, and deaths (only about 0.2% deaths) so I can’t just add 10% to the total. Also not being able to be factored in are those who had it but never reported anything and people traveling in/out of the county for work or vacation or whatever.
If/when the Delta variant comes around here it could get “interesting” for lack of a better word to use. I wish we were closer to 80-90% vaccinated. Reading the letters to the editor in our local paper and talking with some of our neighbors… the rate we have doesn’t surprise me at all.
For the data geeks: Your Local Epidemiologist Data
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If the person is religious, I suggest sharing this article with them. The author makes the case for getting vaccinated from a religious perspective.
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Here is an article from a more reluctant group due to faith and their way of life. I don’t personally know any religious rejectors, but I respect that choice completely.
But the article states, “While their religious beliefs don’t forbid them to get vaccines, the Amish are generally less likely to be vaccinated for preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough. Though vaccine acceptance varies by church district, the Amish often rely on family tradition and advice from church leaders, and a core part of their Christian faith is accepting God’s will in times of illness or death.” So it’s not a religious objection. It’s based on tradition.
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I have a hard time separating the Amish way of life from their faith. Part of the Amish way of life is directly tied to not taking advantage of modern medical advances, but as with any faith, we can make a different choice. I would define that family tradition, rejection of modern life, and church leaders advisory role as a part of their faith, but I understand your disagreement in considering that a religious objection.
In case anyone is wondering, the Amish I’m aware of in PA and NY definitely use hospitals and doctors. Many medical facilities where Amish are located have hitching posts for their horses.
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