Vaccine reluctance & General COVID Discussion

Vaccines are required in all forms of public transportation including buses (local and long distance), subways, and railroads.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/face-masks-public-transportation.html

The link pre-display doesn’t show much but here’s from the FAQ:
What is a public transportation conveyance?

A public transportation conveyance is any mode of transportation other than a private vehicle. Types of public transportation conveyances include airplanes, trains, subways, buses, taxis, ride-shares, maritime transportation, trolleys, and cable cars.

Which public transportation conveyances does the order apply to, and in which areas?

The Order applies to all public transportation conveyances traveling into the United States (i.e., arriving from a foreign country) or within the United States (including within states or territories or traveling between states or territories). This includes school buses. The Order also applies to all conveyances leaving the United States until they arrive at a foreign destination.

Agree, except I would substitute “essentially nonexistent” for pretty low. The fact that the overall outcome for different areas/states has been pretty much the same, despite much difference in mandates/compliance is pretty compelling.

I’ve come to the conclusion a STEM education isn’t what it used to be but there’s no reason your average Fine Arts/PE major shouldn’t be puzzled by these not so random facts, given the militancy of the vaccine for everyone movement:

  • Israel reported, last week or so, that half of their covid infections are in the vaccinated. Don’t know the percentage vaccinated in Israel but it wouldn’t seem to matter.

  • Los Angeles county, last day or so, said infection rate in the vaccinated had hit 25%, up from the last reporting period. Don’t know their percentage vaccinated, either, but am pretty sure it’s less than Israel’s.

  • The UK issued a report in the last week or so, on the state of their covid affairs over the period spanning Feb 1, 2021 to July 19, 2021. Table 4, in the .pdf link below pretty much spells out an interesting fact that doesn’t seem to be getting much attention here. That while the Delta variant seems to be more contagious, it’s more benign… or, it might be that the susceptible are long, long gone, similar to the state of affairs in the US,

Statistically, no deaths in the under 50 y/o, and close to 2/3 fewer deaths in the 50 and above group, compared to the Alpha version. Report is the first after the link: Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern: technical briefings - GOV.UK

What’s so hard to understand about a vaccine that ought to be called something else, since it only seems to last a few months, and that the new variants are most likely going to be more benign?

It isn’t that complicated.

It seems like new data was released on the CDC website for seroprevalence in February 21, so still early in the vaccination program and presumably mostly from natural infection. I was surprised to see seroprevalence rates of nearly 30% in my area in February, and some parts of the country were even higher.

If your figures are right, than many or most of those 30% could have or at least had effectively 80-90% immunity. What would that mean for herd immunity now with the vaccination rate being what it is? Of course there’s bound to be a lot of overlap, but it seems as though community immunity while maybe not herd immunity levels must still be substantial.

If half the infections are among the vaccinated, it still means that a smaller percentage of vaccinated people than unvaccinated people get COVID, since there are more vaccinated than unvaccinated people in Israel. Not to mention that data show those vaccinated people have MUCH milder cases.

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If the information is anecdotal, then it is irresponsible to say there is an association between the two.

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Masks for public transportation, absolutely, but vaccines on city busses and subways, no way. (I think its a great idea, and would positively impact the inner cities, but totally impractical…)

This isn’t true. Quit posting BS.

Of course it matters. For instance, if 100% of the population is vaccinated, then 100% of the cases would be infections of vaccinated people. This would be true even if there were very few cases. That doesn’t mean the vaccine doesn’t work or that it only lasts a few months.

And the seriousness of the illness matters as well. It is irresponsible to claim that the vaccination only lasts a few months based on these statistics.

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I stand by my post, we don’t make people pay if they are hospitalized because they caught the flu and they didn’t get a flu shot that year. People are bombarded with inform about getting the flu vaccine, the pneumonia vaccine, how to have a healthy lifestyle and the importance of exercise, nutrition and maintaining a healthy weight yet obesity and smoking, drug and alcohol use and abuse are ubiquitous. I have yet to see any PSAs about losing weight to help improve one’s chances of surviving Covid. Obesity is a huge risk factor together with diabetes and heart disease but crickets from our media and public health officials.

We all pay towards medical bills incurred by people with medical conditions caused by poor choices including heart disease, certain cancers and type 2 diabetes through our insurance premiums, Medicare contributions, Obamacare taxes and state and federal income taxes among others.

The level of vitriol and almost desperation seeping into the vaccine conversations isn’t going to help move the needle with the unvaccinated. I’m honestly not sure what will at this point. If the government starts punishing people for not vaccinating will that help? Or will it simply divide the country further? And it may divide us in unexpected and/or unintended ways. The level of distrust of government and the media held by many Americans has been years in the making but particularly accelerated since 2016 and the performance of the current administration isn’t doing much to repair it. Hard to put that genie back in the bottle.

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Research being released tomorrow.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/29/cdc-mask-guidance/

“I think the central issue is that vaccinated people are probably involved to a substantial extent in the transmission of delta,” Jeffrey Shaman, a Columbia University epidemiologist, wrote in an email after reviewing the CDC slides. “In some sense, vaccination is now about personal protection — protecting oneself against severe disease. Herd immunity is not relevant as we are seeing plenty of evidence of repeat and breakthrough infections.”

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We covered this upthread. That claim has been analyzed in depth. It is a complete myth that is not even remotely true.

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Flu vaccines only last about 6-8 months. The mistake was the hype that these vaccines were the cure-all and would allow us to return to our pre-Covid lives indefinitely. A clinical trial can’t tell you that. Only time can. It was a premature promise and it’s fueling the anger at the unvaccinated because the vaccinated were promised something that’s turning out to be somewhat false.

Just looking at the situation in Israel, I predict boosters will begin to be offered in the next couple months or so for those vaccinated in Dec-Feb. And it’s any one’s guess how long the protection from the J&J, AstraZeneca, Sinovac and countless other vaccines will last given that their efficacy was already less than Pfizer and Moderna. No one is discussing that and millions around the world have been vaccinated with them.

No way to tell if new variants will be better or worse. Hopefully you’re right about which way they’ll go.

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If half of the 30% had unnoticed asymptomatic COVID-19 (and therefore make vaccination choices without regard to having had COVID-19), then 15% know that they had COVID-19. How much does that affect vaccination choices? Some may feel that previous natural infection gives them enough immunity that they choose to delay or refuse vaccination. But some others may have found COVID-19 unpleasant enough that they may want to get as much additional protection as possible by getting vaccinated.

Here’s what I have for Israel’s data:

https://datadashboard.health.gov.il/COVID-19/general

I don’t see where they say how many of the current cases are post vax vs unvaxed.

Except for kids and those under 30, they appear to have very good vax rates. I know in a report they put out about Pfizer the vax was still doing great at preventing serious cases and still better over time than no vax at preventing Covid totally.

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My vaccine reluctant S (who since he is not vaccinated is essentially grounded, so we an prevent him from being part of the unvaccinated that is causing the so called problem ) keeps spewing off information about the vaccines are not even working anymore with Delta , so even if he gets vaccinated , now that he has to mask again, and he is afraid of lockdowns again if he returns to school, what is the point? Many here say its all the unvaccinated fault , but in Israel, and even in England, there is a high amount of vaccine acceptance, yet Delta did its thing. Even the states with high vaccine rates, delta is breaking through.
When the vaccines first came out, there was talk about “how long they would last” and that “we would likely need a booster” Now there is some backtracking on that.
So i am not convinced that if we even had, by June, 70 percent of the population vaccinated that we would not be in this position. The US has another problem in that whenever flights arrive from overseas, we dont have any accountability or quarantine like some other countries. Just a covid test 72 hours before you arrive.
So its getting harder and harder to convince the reluctant (not the anti covid vaxers) to get the shot, as they see its not really “working”. Yeah, the government and other entities will force it. Colleges are already. But will fall really be normal now? The only reason why I want my S to get vaccinated is so that people will him and us alone; i feel like he will get covid anyway at some point. and yeah, the vaccines make it milder, but he is 20 and there is a slight chance he could a more severe case, but even in terms of long covid, they are seeing that now in vaccinated who get covid. I am trying to find any arguments for him to get vaccinated (he is willing to stay home and take classes online now) , as he is not a social person , and apparently being told he cant go anywhere is not helping.

I’m curious how stats of 97% hospitalized from Covid are unvaxed means the vaccines aren’t working. If they aren’t working, the rate should be equal meaning just under half of those hospitalized are unvaxed.

A percentage of those in hospitals unvaxed are also those who couldn’t be either for true medical reasons or age. Many others are immunocompromised meaning vaxes often don’t work.

Some of you are saying vaxes don’t work. I don’t get it. The data shows me they’re working quite well and I seriously wish everyone understood that causing more to get vaxed and fewer to end up in hospitals.

I really, really wish those who won’t get it had to take a shift where medical boy’s GF works - with those recovering from hospitalized cases of Covid.

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Not sure if you travelled by air in 2020 but we were required to wear masks on pretty much every flight I was on during that time.

I rode CTA in 2020 during the pandemic and we were required to wear masks. These mask orders were merely a formalization of what was ordered already by local authorities, as well as perhaps a clarification of what all should be included.

The article references that there may be an association. The physicians interviewed relate their personal experience and their ongoing research into the issue - at this time, the data is self-reported via online survey. Perhaps you should read this fairly detailed article to become better acquainted with the matter.

The ridership on public transportation in those cities is primarily people of color and/or people of low SES who use public transit to get to work. A vaccine mandate would essentially be forcing vaccination on those groups because the alternative would be to go on public assistance or become homeless . . .

Get a public facing job? Apply to employers requiring vax?