COVID vaccines saved 3.2 million US lives, researchers say https://thehill.com/policy/healthca...s-saved-3-2-million-us-lives-researchers-say/ The COVID-19 vaccines developed by biotech companies Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson saved more than 3 million American lives over a two-year period, according to new research from the Commonwealth Fund. The first coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. was administered in December 2020. Since then, health care workers have put more than 655 million doses into the arms of Americans, with 80 percent of the population having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The Commonwealth Fund estimated the vaccines prevented more than 18.5 million hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths from December 2020 to last month. Researchers added the vaccines also prevented 120 million more COVID-19 infections and saved the U.S. more than $1 trillion. “The unprecedented pace at which vaccines were developed and deployed has saved many lives and allowed for safer easing of COVID-19 restrictions and reopening of businesses, schools, and other activities,” researchers wrote in a blog post. “This extraordinary achievement has been possible only through sustained funding and effective policymaking that ensured vaccines were available to all Americans.” The Commonwealth Fund employed a model that incorporated daily data of vaccinations in the U.S. and also pulled incidence data, including the trends of hospitalizations and deaths. A simulation was modeled off of the pandemic’s trajectory without vaccinations for comparison. While the first rollout of vaccines applied only to adults, now children as young as 6 months can get vaccinated in the U.S. With a majority of Americans vaccinated, COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths across the country have plateaued. Still, hundreds of people are dying from the novel coronavirus everyday. The White House is pushing to get Americans updated on their vaccinations with booster shots as immunity wanes, leaving the people more vulnerable to reinfection.
A lot of people that are not vaccinated have made a critical mistake with Covid infections. I've been talking about the science of a Covid infection with peer-reviewed studies about the impact of a Covid infection on the brain, cardiovascular, organs, immune system...anything in the human body. Scientists are still learning new things about this virus and the one thing they've realized is that a Covid mild infection today that you quickly recover from but then have a cascade of illnesses at a later date: heart attack, stroke, lung disease, cancer, diabetes, and so on a month or few months down the road in people that were healthy... Excess Illnesses and Excess Mortality Rates This is what is happening in Kentucky, South Dakota, and Illinois only because I have family members that work in the hospitals along with reading the details of peer-reviewed articles of studies in other countries. Remember the now-forgotten or ignored Long Covid ? Many Covidiots stated there's nothing wrong with "those people"... it is all in their head or their infection was no big deal ? It is a big deal in the medical field. My siblings are seeing more healthcare co-workers never vaccinated that returned back to work because hospitals now are categorizing a recovery from Covid on the same level as someone that has been vaccinated... Those individuals are in fact calling in sick more often than those that were vaccinated. A healthy head nurse who shares management duties with my sister in their unit...the nurse is a marathon runner, never vaccinated, and recovered quickly from a Covid infection (mild illness...barely a cough)... That co-worker, 6 months later after her mild covid infection is now borderline diabetic, with kidney disease and thyroid problems. The odds of her having a heart attack have increased dramatically. She's now a number in the growing list of excessive illnesses. Hopefully, she doesn't become a number in the growing list of excessive mortality rates. A kid on my son's youth hockey team...not vaccinated. That kid had Covid mid-last year and recovered quickly...barely a cough and no fever. He's now had the FLU 3x in the past 6 months plus he has developed asthma. The parents have spent more time taking him to medical clinics in the past year in comparison to his entire life. The mom stated she's used up all of her sick days from work to take him back-n-forth to medical appointments. Any more time off from her job...will be unpaid. Simply, it's not just about the lives saved by the vaccine. There's ignorance about Covid that's now growing to fruition and it will only get worst about these other diseases or illnesses that many can not understand why the increases. wrbtrader
The question is: Are the current booster shots working for the latest Covid variants. Or are the worthless?
Same efficacy rate as the Flu shots each year, last I heard. Which is not optimal. 40-50% or somesuch.
As noted in multiple large studies now, the new bivalent Covid vaccines are significantly more effective against Omicron Covid. The studies indicate an efficacy of 70% to 75% against Omicron Covid which is a significant improvement -- however more studies are needed to arrive at against an official efficacy number for each strain of Omicron. All of this has been covered in the "Latest Vaccine News" thread but you already knew this. Here is a reminder about the results. New booster shots cut risk of symptomatic COVID-19 https://rollcall.com/2022/11/22/new-booster-shots-cut-risk-of-symptomatic-covid-19/ The new bivalent COVID-19 booster shots are up to 56 percent more effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infection than the two original COVID-19 vaccines in adults ages 18 and up, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data, released Tuesday, is the first batch of effectiveness data from an official, large-scale study on the updated shots, which have been on the market since early October. The updated boosters target the BA.4 and BA.5 strain of the omicron variant, as well as the original strain. The original shots and first booster that Americans received targeted only the ancestral strain of COVID-19. (More at above url) Updated COVID booster shots reduce the risk of hospitalization, CDC reports NPR - https://tinyurl.com/253rz5h3 New bivalent COVID booster shots are more effective at reducing risk of hospitalization than boosters of the original vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in two new studies Friday. The CDC recommended a bivalent booster in September to better protect against the omicron variant. The new booster targets a component of the omicron variant and a component of the original virus strain to offer both broad and omicron-specific protection. (More at above url)
Someone needs to inform the opinion author that anti-vax misinformation killed over 230,000 people in the U.S. and millions of people around the globe. Let him tell us how many people terrorism and gun violence has killed over the past two years comparatively. But right-wing opinion writers are not very good at doing math -- they just want to push their narrative. The WHO thinks 'anti-vaccine activism' is deadlier than terrorism https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...i-vaccine-activism-is-deadlier-than-terrorism
Sadly 10,000 people died of Covid last month. Many of these deaths were preventable -- the most recent booster is still effective at providing protection against the prominent JN.1 variant. Nearly 10,000 Died From COVID-19 Last Month, Fueled by Holiday Gatherings, New Variant, WHO Says https://www.voanews.com/a/nearly-10...gatherings-new-variant-who-says-/7437761.html
Likely. There are more studies coming out each week showing the relationship of not keeping current with Covid vaccines to increased risk of death or serious illness. Covid jab skipped by 44%, entire UK study finds More than 7,000 Covid-related hospital admissions could have been prevented in the UK in the summer of 2022 if the population had received the full number of jabs recommended, according to research in The Lancet. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-67980238 Some 44% of the UK population was under-vaccinated, with younger people among the most likely to skip doses. In a first, health records for everyone over five in the UK were analysed. The same approach could now be used to understand other diseases. The entire population of the UK is 67 million, and all those over the age of five had their anonymised electronic health data analysed for The Lancet study. (More at above url)