As a person who was vaccinated in February as you say, what data are you seeing that makes you so fearful that your immunity is waning? Serious question. Vaccinated individuals (and those who’ve recovered from naturally fighting off the virus) are the safest according to allllllll the data. Not some. All.
I take issue that you resent the country with THE most successful vaccine rollout in the world. One could say it’s pretty selfish to be even thinking about getting a booster when there are so millions around the world who would do anything to receive a first shot.
And thank God we live in the USA which could never mandate a vaccine passport. What ever happened to medical freedom?
ETA: Does everyone on this thread realize we are NEVER going to reach Covid Zero?
I greatly admire the scientists that developed the vaccines.
If the U.S. is going to be expected to save the world (as usual), then the American taxpayers need to be healthy enough to work to pay the taxes to fund the save the world campaign.
There is the difficulty of vaccine distribution. Have those problems been solved regarding the ultra-cold storage temps required for Pfizer and Moderna? I am all for sharing our excess vaccines with the world.
As far as immunity wearing off, Pfizer has stated it believes it is happening in Israel.
Sorry you take issue with my resentment of the U.S.'s pandering to the antivaxxers/antimaskers. We’d be in a much better position if it weren’t for them.
I just got a chuckle after seeing this quote from his comedy spiel:
“The Biden administration has reportedly run out of ideas to encourage more people to get the coronavirus vaccine. Luckily, the virus is coming up with new ideas all the time.” — SETH MEYERS
I’d be content with it being voluntary. We should have the freedom to do that IMO. And private businesses should have the freedom to require it if they want to.
Not that it really matters, but when I go into a store with my mask on, am guessing most people think I am unvaccinated. I have been vaccinated since January. Would be happy to get a booster.
I have been wearing my mask again when grocery shopping during the week since I see many parents in the stores with kids that are too young to be vaccinated.
Another tidbit on deaths of vaccinated vs unvaccinated people came in this article I was reading (linked at the bottom):
" Of Mississippi’s 54 Covid-19 deaths between June 7 and July 5, just four were among fully vaccinated people"
Mississippi appears to have 31% fully vaxed according to their site (this is for entire population, not just >12 eligible). 31% of 54 would be roughly 17 deaths if vaccination didn’t matter. I haven’t delved into data by age to see any breakdowns.
Note the following article the headline talks about kids, but the article itself keeps all that in perspective. It’s where the death data I saw came from.
“To date, we have not had a patient admitted to a DHS hospital who has been fully vaccinated with either the J&J, Pfizer or Moderna vaccine,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said Tuesday. “Every single patient that we’ve admitted for COVID has been not yet fully vaccinated.”
I’m going to stick to mostly avoiding crowds. I was fully vaxed in Feb and sadly we have too many vaxed. Who knows when boosters will be approved. I’d be fine with getting one.
We will probably need an official document verifying one’s vaccination status to travel to other countries, whether we want one or not in the US.
I think businesses should be able to decide whether they want to allow unvaccinated folks as employees (like hospitals are doing). I can’t find it but a poster earlier in this thread said that his/her employer was bringing people back to work but insisting on vaccination and the Director of Finance declined on the grounds that he didn’t think it was necessary. The firm said, “OK. Let’s work on a plan to find a replacement and transition them in.” Lo and behold, his willingness to be vaccinated had shifted. I would also support companies saying that they only want customers who are vaccinated – for example, this is what cruise ships are sensibly trying to do. This does not impinge on freedom as the customer can decide to go to a competitor or a competitive experience (visit Disney in Orlando). And, companies can always decide not to have a vaccine requirement. Note that I’m not a lawyer but I think that businesses requiring an official vax document does not infringe the first amendment in any way as the first amendment only applies to the government.
Without an official document verifying one’s vaccination status, it will be hard for companies who want the extra level of protection for customers or employees to do so. So, I’d happily have one. I have Global Entry/Nexus cards to cross the US border and as well the Canadian border. I also have a Trusted Traveler card to enter the UK. So they have vetted me and know a lot about me. But I’m willing to carry them in the same way as I am willing to carry an official vax card.
I don’t think that at all. I know a lot of people who choose to wear masks after being vaccinated. In fact, I think it is more likely that a person with a mask HAS been vaccinated as people who choose not to be vaccinated were probable anti-mask too.
Note that in Israel, in mid-May, B.1.1.7 / Alpha was the dominant variant there. But by mid-June, B.1.617.2 / Delta was the dominant variant there; B.1.617.2 / Delta has somewhat reduced vaccine effectiveness, although it is still a lot better to be vaccinated than not vaccinated if you get a whiff of B.1.617.2 / Delta virus.
Boosters specifically directed against B.1.617.2 / Delta and other predicted* variants would be more useful than boosters of the original vaccine directed against the ancestral variant of the virus.
*There is some research in trying to predict which spike protein mutations can occur that would improve binding to human ACE2, hence giving such a variant an evolutionary advantage; theoretically, a vaccine can include such variants that do not exist yet.
From what I have seen, voluntary mask wearing is probably correlated to vaccine enthusiasm / COVID-paranoia. I.e. the people who rushed to get vaccine as soon as they could are probably the slowest to take off their masks when not required. It is also likely that the people who are quickest to take off their masks when no longer (enforceably) required are more likely to be the same people who are strongly against being vaccinated.
The county I live in is 83% vaccinated (18+) and 92% vaccinated (65+) and the vast majority of people still wear masks at the store, in restaurants, etc.
CNN reports: The Department of Health Services for Los Angeles county runs four hospitals, including those affiliated with the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, along with 19 health care centers throughout the region. “To date, we have not had a patient admitted to a [Department of Health Services] hospital who has been fully vaccinated, with either the J&J, Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Every single patient that we’ve admitted [for Covid] is not yet fully vaccinated," county health services director Dr. Christina Ghaly told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
By “COVID-paranoia”, I mean such great concern about COVID-19 that, after getting vaccinated as soon as possible, the person continues to practice things like non-required mask wearing even in what were already low risk situations before vaccines were available (e.g. uncrowded outdoor situations where others are rarely encountered and easy to keep distance from). While medically vulnerable (to COVID-19) persons can be expected to be “COVID-paranoid”, it does appear that, at least in some areas, the percentage of “COVID-paranoid” people is far higher than the percentage of medically vulnerable people.
This is the opposite of “COVID-denial”, where the person is quick to remove mask when not enforceably required, and is also opposed to getting vaccinated.
In between are “COVID-concerned”, where the person gets vaccinated (or wants vaccination but is not due to actual or perceived access or trust issues), but then relaxes masking etc. practices after vaccination (or continues them if not vaccinated), and “COVID-unconcerned”, where the person is not really motivated to get vaccinated, but not strongly opposed to getting vaccinated, and is not very careful about masking, etc. practices, but will at least go through the motions when required.
I had whooping cough at 28, infected by a bunch of anti-vaxxers in New Hampshire who gave it to my SIL and then on to me, and my two brothers. Nothing like waking up unable to breathe, then coughing till you throw up. I can’t imagine being a child with it.