Skip to main content

Pandemic of the Unvaccinated--Right?

I'm starting to wonder if I should cancel my trip to West Virginia and go someplace without COVID--someplace with a high vaccination rate where they've pretty much gotten rid of COVID. That's how it works, right--when enough people get vaccinated, you get rid of COVID? We only have a 50% vaccination rate here in the US. It's only 43% in West Virginia. The horror! It's put us in a pandemic of the unvaccinated, according to the CDC in an article from a few weeks ago. 

People who are fully vaccinated are protected against severe Covid-19, including the delta variant, [CDC Director Dr. Rochelle] Walensky said.

Where to jet off to? England seems like a nice place, so full of pretty scenery, history, and impressive architecture and twee towns. The UK has an impressive vaccination rate of 73%, too. There must not be much COVID there...right?

Source: Spectator UK

Oh! They must have taken most of their vaccines around the end of July...right?

Source: Spectator UK

Wait...wasn't "freedom day" on July 19--the day before positive tests started going down? Weird! Maybe I'll visit when they have COVID under better control. Meantime, Iceland looks interesting. Their vaccination rate is 75% and CNN says they have a rigorous tracking and tracing system, masks required at the airport, and nose and throat swabs to "filter out" anyone carrying the virus. COVID carriers have to quarantine for 14 days. And their death rate is only three per 100,000 people compared to 440 per 100,000 in the UK. It just gets better and better. 

Oops--that article is almost 45 days old. Their Chief Epidemiologist said today that 

In the past two to three weeks, the Delta variant has outstripped all others in Iceland and it has become clear that vaccinated people can easily contract it as well and spread it to others.

Health authorities in Iceland sent a memo to their government warning them about the "heavy strain on the healthcare system cause[d] by the current record rate of infection." It must be those selfish, irresponsible people who haven't gotten vaccinated...right?

Source: https://www.covid.is/data

Around 24 have had to be hospitalised in this wave, just over 1%...However, 2.4% of unvaccinated people that contract COVID-19 now are hospitalised.

But I thought we were in a "pandemic of the unvaccinated"! Whatever it is that's going on, I don't want to go where there's an outbreak or a strained hospital system or looming restrictions. So I have the answer: Gibraltar--it's nearly 100% vaccinated. 

Source: CDC. 

Or maybe I'll avoid Gibraltar altogether. But there's finally a clue about what's going on.  The CDC admitted that

...even fully vaccinated travelers might be at increased risk for getting and possibly spreading some Covid-19 variants.

Maybe I should take another look at West Virginia, even if they only have a 43% vaccination rate. What does their dashboard say?

Source: WV Covid dashboard

Source: WV Covid dashboard

Gee, it's like vaccination rates don't have anything to do with COVID spread. What was it the epidemiologist from Iceland said--

...it has become clear that vaccinated people can easily contract [the Delta variant] as well and spread it to others.

* * * * *

I admit I was kidding about changing my vacation plans. I've already bought a new bikini and Iceland and England seem a bit chilly for it. My beef is with the blaming, shaming, punishment, and at this point, lying about people who don't want an experimental medicine. Anyone with an internet connection and a little curiosity can figure out that we're not going to vaccinate our way out of the pandemic. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This Just In: Yogurt Doesn't Improve Health

A recent study from Spain finds "In comparison with people that did not eat yogurt, those who ate this dairy product regularly did not display any significant improvement in their score on the physical component of quality of life, and although there was a slight improvement mentally, this was not statistically significant," states López-García. Most yogurt is pretty much pudding with a little bacteria . Pudding is a sugar bomb. Hard to believe the stuff doesn't improve health outcomes, isn't it? But as usual, researchers are calling for...more research. "For future research more specific instruments must be used which may increase the probability of finding a potential benefit of this food."
23 comments
Read more

Paleo Diet: Eating Differently from Everyone Else is Fine!

I've been seeing more and more articles by women (it's always women) whose heads have exploded trying to figure out life without yogurt and cupcakes. Oh, the shenanigans they get up to: bathroom problems from stuffing themselves with vegetables, paleo baked goods that don't taste the same as ones from the bakery, and especially the irresistible urge to eat "normally." The technical problems aren't hard to sort out: substitutes like baked goods will taste different because they are different, but an adjustment period of a few months will make those foods taste normal. And whatever you eat, don't stuff yourself. First, though, read a book by Loren Cordain or Mark Sisson to learn about the paleo diet before diving in. The articles I keep reading, though, have more to do with attitude: the urge to be exactly like everybody else or the urge to be helpless. If you're in the second category, I can't, by definition, help you. If you'd rather be Lu
19 comments
Read more

Robert F. Kennedy shows up at the FDA

 
Post a Comment
Read more

Decongestant Ineffective; Vibration Plate Works

A common ingredient in many cold medicines has been shown so ineffective that the FDA recently proposed taking it off the market. The ingredient, phenylephrine, "failed to outperform placebo pills in patients with cold and allergy congestion," say researchers from the University of Florida. "The same researchers also challenged the drug's effectiveness in 2007, but the FDA allowed the products to remain on the market pending additional research," according to CNBC .  Mostly placebos. Photo from Pixabay . I can attest that phenylephrine doesn't work. Before I stopped eating wheat, I constantly had nasal and sinus congestion. I helped keep Sudafed in business when the active ingredient was pseudoephedrine, but I noticed the PE (phenylephrine) variety didn't work at all. The only other decongestants I've found helpful are guaifenesin (Mucinex) and spicy food. Mucinex is expensive because it works! (The cheaper store brands work just as well, though.) Su
Post a Comment
Read more

Palpitations Gone with Iron

Thanks to my internet friend Larcana, who alerted me to the connection between iron deficiency and palpitations, I doubled down on my iron supplements and, for good measure, washed them down with Emergen-C. It's a cold medicine with a mega-dose of vitamin C, plus B vitamins and minerals. I don't think vitamin C does anything for a cold (a friend bought the stuff and left it at my house the last time she visited), but vitamin C does help iron absorption. After doubling up on iron in the last three days, I feel back to normal. (I'd already been taking quite a bit of magnesium and potassium, so I probably had sufficient levels of those.) How did I get so low on iron? Maybe it was too many Quest bars instead of red meat when I had odd cravings during my dental infection recently. Maybe because it's too hard to find liver at the grocery store and I haven't eaten much of it lately. Maybe the antibiotics damaged my intestines . And apparently, I'm a heavy bleeder .
18 comments
Read more