Some concrete conclusions are beginning to come thru on the health reality of inoculations ….
The political side is something else….
The virus has mutated. The delta variant is rampant. Some elements of immunity may be gradually waning for people who got shots many months ago. New research studies in the United States, Israel, Britain and Qatar have shown a partial erosion in the effectiveness of vaccines against mild to moderate infections. Immunocompromised people are winding up hospitalized despite being vaccinated.
People should expect to roll up their sleeves again. Boosters are coming. The Biden administration is finalizing plans to authorize boosters for people who are eight months past their last shot.
The vaccines remain remarkably effective at the crucial task of keeping vaccinated people with breakthrough infections out of the hospital or the morgue, according to infectious-disease experts. The vaccines are clearly the best weapon against the virus.
But vaccine proponents say the public should be realistic about what vaccines can do. The shots don’t create an impermeable protective sheath. Instead, the vaccines prime multiple elements of the immune system to recognize and respond to coronavirus infections and rapidly clear the virus. Getting a little bit sick post-vaccination doesn’t mean the shots didn’t do their job.
“We could have done a much better job at setting realistic expectations for this vaccine,” said Paul A. Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “And I think that’s hurt us. Because I think people get disappointed. They think the vaccine isn’t working.”
This reframing of what success looks like is a daunting messaging task for public health officials who have repeatedly described the coronavirus in alarming terms. They are now emphasizing protection against severe disease and death rather than blanket protection against infection.
No one knows how many breakthrough cases there are, nor their degree of severity. While some breakthrough cases will be asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic, others could flatten a person for days with flu-like symptoms but still fall short of requiring advanced medical treatment….
The 7-say average of the number of both cases and deaths continues to increase.
I am standing by my feeling that the ‘reported’ virus cases and hospitalizations seem to have peeked…….
The same thing said by Nate Silver @538….
Death numbers are not a good look for real time interpretation because they lag in being reported…..
My feeling is based on numbers from principally from the WashPost and somewhat from the NY Times…..
I also can will not venture on the fall when kids are back in school and the weather forces people inside…..
Here in NY…..
The push is to reopen things
Some with shot ID…..
Most just open and request but not lean hard on mask wearing indoors
People with shot’s can do what they want
NO politician is thinking of shutdowns
Just the opposite
But employer’s can’t find enough help