But where is the state run by Beelzebub (DeSantis) himself? Surely that should be dead last, as you've told us about how having no vaccination plan means Florida is doomed.
When is Florida going to accurately report its COVID data. When will DeSantis release a state report showing the number of COVID variant cases.
How does that have anything to do with the vaccination data reported above? Are you saying DeSantis is lying about how many people are vaccinated now and that the CDC doesn't know? I assume you have proof of this accusation. LOL..what am I saying, of course you don't.
The lack of COVID variant reporting from the state of Florida has everything to do with Florida being plague central in the U.S. for the spread on more infectious variants across the nation.
But that doesn't have anything to do with vaccination reporting coming from the CDC. So you've not answered the first question. Its amusing seeing you flounder about, though.
Not reaching herd immunity by the fall could have dire consequences, medical expert says https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/03/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html Millions of Americans are receiving Covid-19 vaccine doses every day, but one medical expert thinks the nation may not reach herd immunity this year if more people can't be persuaded to get a shot. "What I really worry about is that those people who are already on the fence don't get vaccinated (and) we don't reach herd immunity come the fall," CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen told CNN. "And then with the winter ... we have a big resurgence, maybe we have variants coming in from other countries, and we could start this whole process all over again and have another huge pandemic come the winter." Experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci have estimated between 70% to 85% of the US population needs to be immune to the virus -- through vaccination or previous infection -- to control its spread. So far, 44.4% of the population has received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose and 31.8% are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the average daily rate of vaccinations has been declining for about two weeks. The CDC reported Monday that 246 million total doses of vaccine have been administered, about 79% of the 312.5 million doses delivered. That's roughly 1.2 million more doses reported administered since Sunday, for a seven-day average of about 2.3 million doses per day. The seven-day average was 3.1 million on April 19. At least one vaccine may soon be available to children. The Food and Drug Administration is poised to authorize Pfizer/BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for children and teens ages 12 to 15 by early next week, a federal government official tells CNN. "It's going to take us that much longer to get back to life as normal, to stop having to wear masks for our protection, if people don't get vaccinated and we don't have equitable distribution of vaccines," infectious diseases specialist Dr. Celine Gounder told CNN on Sunday. Some experts think driving down infections will be good enough, even if herd immunity isn't reached. While it would be unfortunate for the United States to not reach herd immunity, most people will still be able to get back to their pre-pandemic lives if case numbers continue to fall, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Health, told CNN on Monday. "We may not get to zero, we probably won't," Jha said. "But if we can get the infections at very low levels, most of us can get back to our lives in normal ways. I think we can probably live with that." For the ongoing local, state and federal efforts to get more shots into Americans' arms, now comes the hard part: reaching audiences that weren't as eager to get vaccinated in the past few months or who may not have had access to a shot. "We need to be ... innovative around both culturally competent education and be thoughtful about where the holes are and where we can get shots in people's arms," infectious diseases expert Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis told CNN over the weekend. 'Make it really easy' to get vaccinated, doctor says New strategies to increase vaccinations must be tried, such as closing mass vaccination centers and distributing vaccine to more localized venues such as doctors' offices, churches, schools and workplaces, Wen said. The government should "make it really easy" for people to get vaccinated, Wen said, especially Americans who aren't really vaccine hesitant but just can't find the time because of jobs and family responsibilities. Also, the social upside of vaccination should be emphasized. "I think we should do just like people did with vaccine selfies," Wen said. "I think we need selfies of people now going to bars and restaurants with other vaccinated people to show what a return to 2019 pre-pandemic life could really look like." One doctor told CNN on Sunday he's worried officials haven't offered strong enough incentives for some Americans to get vaccinated -- including younger Americans. "What I worry about mostly are the young people," said Dr. Saju Mathew, a family medicine physician in Atlanta. "I see them every day, pretty much, at work." The CDC issued new guidance last week saying fully vaccinated people can unmask at small outdoor gatherings or when dining outside with friends from multiple households -- activities the agency said unvaccinated people still need to wear a mask for. But the guidelines are too cautious, Mathew said. "I think that the CDC missed an opportunity to say, 'Listen, we can return to pre-pandemic lives, and you can do more if you're vaccinated,'" Mathew said. "So, I think, when the science is there with positive news, we must share that and motivate people to get vaccinated." Everyone 16 and older is currently eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine in the US. But polling data shows younger Americans are least likely to get a shot. But 36% of adults under the age of 35 say they don't plan on getting one, a recent Quinnipiac University poll found. That's particularly worrisome for several reasons. Unvaccinated young Americans have helped fuel case increases across the US -- including in several states last month. At that time, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned that infections and hospitalizations were going up, predominantly among younger adults who hadn't been vaccinated. And in places like Michigan, which battled a violent spring surge, officials reported last month they were seeing younger and healthier Covid-19 patients in hospitals, hit hard by more contagious variants that have been circulating in the US. Free beer for the vaccinated in New Jersey New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the state plans to put its efforts "into overdrive" to get more residents vaccinated, including allowing walk-up vaccinations to anyone over the age of 16 at the state's six vaccine megasites at specific hours. The state also will launch a vaccine awareness initiative that will include a "massive" email campaign and automated outgoing calls, Murphy said. In a campaign dubbed "Shot and a Beer," the state plans to offer a free beer to anyone over the age of 21 who shows their completed CDC vaccination card at thirteen participating breweries throughout the state, Murphy said. Another state campaign called "Grateful for the Shot" will offer services to make it possible for New Jersey residents "to go directly from religious services to vaccination sites," Murphy said. Last week, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said the state was offering a $100 savings bond to residents 16 to 35 who get a shot, in a push to get more younger residents vaccinated. On Monday, Justice said the state does not yet have a response for how it will purchase those bonds. Whether the payment comes in the form of a check, card or bond, he wants it to have a "real patriotic flair." He pleaded with vaccine-hesitant West Virginians at a news conference to think about the rise in Covid-19 cases across India. He compared India, where only 2% of the population has been vaccinated, to West Virginia, where 53% of the state's population has received one dose and all residents over 16 are able to receive it. "Do you think there would be one person today in India that wouldn't line up to take the vaccines?" Justice said. "They'd all line up as far as you could go. Because today, they don't have the ability, and absolutely the right to have the vaccine that we have here. And yet they would run to line up." The governor also announced new initiatives to bring mobile vaccine sites to high-traffic areas like shopping centers, fairs and sporting events, and local parks. The state is also partnering with organizations like Meals on Wheels to offer vaccines along with food deliveries. "It may even come down to this that we're going door to door, and if we have to go door to door, we'll go from door to door," Justice said. Maryland will now offer a $100 financial incentive to state employees to get the vaccine, according to a news release from Gov. Larry Hogan's office. The release said all state employees who are fully vaccinated are eligible for the new program, including all state employees who have already been fully vaccinated. Employees must show their human resources office proof of vaccination and agree to receive all subsequent CDC recommended booster vaccinations within 18 months of being fully vaccinated. Employees who refuse subsequent CDC recommended booster vaccinations will be required to repay the state the $100, the release said. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order Monday suspending the remaining power of local governments to implement or enforce Covid-19 restrictions. "I think that's the evidence-based thing to do. I think folks that are saying they need to be policing people at this point, if you are saying that, you really are saying you don't believe in the vaccines, you don't believe in the data, you don't believe in the science," DeSantis said at a news conference in St. Petersburg. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she was "deeply concerned" about DeSantis' order. "We are still in a public health emergency and the economy has not fully recovered from the crisis," Cava said. "Less than half of residents have been vaccinated, and we face a growing threat of variants of the virus." Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said the governor's order is proof that the state is preempting local authority, which is not good for democracy. "When I ask myself, 'What is really the purpose of the governor's actions?' I conclude that his actions are part of a larger partisan strategy by the Republican Party to usurp the authority of Democrat-led urban counties and cities across America," Demings said in a statement. Vaccine booster doses would not require full FDA review process Any booster dose for a Covid-19 vaccine already granted emergency use authorization would not be subject to the same scrutiny as a brand-new vaccine, acting US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said Monday. Manufacturers would be asked to file supplemental information, including efficacy data, safety data, and a rationale for a booster dose, but the FDA wouldn't require the vaccine to get completely reauthorized, Woodcock told SiriusXM's Doctor Radio Reports with Dr. Marc Siegel. "If it's just a boost with the same vaccine, or perhaps some small change, but it's a boost for another dose, then they would simply have to submit what's called an efficacy supplement to the agency that would have the clinical data," she said. That clinical information would include why a booster is needed, the safety of another dose, and how a booster should be administered. Similar requirements for reauthorization could apply if manufacturers rework their vaccines to be variant-specific.
You want to get more compliance... eliminate income taxes for life on those who can document 2 doses. I will get 4, just to be safe.
Just double taxes on those who don't get vaccinated. They are a medical risk to society and should bear the cost for their poor judgment which puts everyone at risk.
the high risk...are a big cost to society... like you. that is why the virus was designed by China in the first place... just kidding sort of.
Of course, Florida and Michigan are cited as examples of the problem with widespread COVID variants and vaccine rejecters. White Covid vaccine rejectors threaten herd immunity. Can we change their minds in time? As physicians who practice in Florida and Michigan, we’re watching the national race to vaccinate our fellow Americans with both optimism and alarm. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opini...eaten-herd-immunity-can-we-change-ncna1266210 By Dr. Rob Davidson, emergency room physician and Dr. Bernard Ashby, vascular cardiologist As physicians who practice on opposite ends of the United States and in vastly different communities, we’re watching the national race to vaccinate our fellow Americans with both optimism and alarm. First, the optimism: To date, over 147 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose; nearly 100 million people, or close to 30 percent of the U.S. population, are now fully vaccinated. We are now averaging three million vaccinations a day. Our two states, Florida and Michigan, are reaching out to, and vaccinating, residents. And we have witnessed firsthand the public health workers, nurses and fellow physicians who continue to provide compassionate care for very sick people, more than one year into an emotionally and physically exhausting pandemic. Over 580,000 Americans have died due to coronavirus; at least 3,600 of them have been health care workers. Here’s where the alarm sets in. Even as we accelerate vaccinations, an immovable force stands in the way of achieving community immunity: Millions of Americans who are simply saying “No way.” As of mid-April, both Florida and Michigan were hot spots for the more severe B.1.1.7 Covid-19 variant that originated in the U.K. and that is now the dominant strain nationwide. This variant is also sending younger, previously healthy people into our hospitals. With the coronavirus mutating to become more contagious and possibly more lethal, vaccination is more important than ever. Yet, vaccine refusal — not reluctance, not “maybe later,” but flat-out rejection — could prevent us from reaching the threshold when epidemiologists say we can safely and responsibly fully reopen all aspects of society. Recent surveys like this one from CNN put that number at around one in four people. In rural, overwhelmingly white places like rural western Michigan, these are the folks who stagger into the Emergency Room, sick and struggling to breathe, yet still tell nurses and doctors that neither Covid-19, masks and vaccines are real. As a black cardiologist practicing in multicultural Miami and a white emergency physician in rural, overwhelmingly white Michigan, we’ve encountered vaccine hesitancy for as long as the pandemic has been around. Some of the reluctance came from lack of information, some from lack of trust, especially among under-served populations. In September 2020, polls showed that half of all Black people and four in 10 Hispanic people wouldn’t get a vaccine, more than other groups. Hospitals, doctors, public health and community groups began reaching out to, and engaging with, Black and Hispanic communities about vaccines. Black physicians partnered with Black celebrities and faith leaders. Spanish-language PSAs hit the airwaves. In Miami, Black physicians and nurses staffed vaccination clinics at places like Brentwood Pool. In Michigan, Spanish-speaking health professionals set up clinics in the heart of Hispanic communities. Slowly, matriarchs from Black neighborhoods and pastors in Spanish-speaking churches began getting vaccinated and telling people about it. Barber shops and grocery stores announced vaccine clinic locations. The more information Black and brown doctors shared, the more Black and brown people trusted them and began to accept the value of getting vaccinated. In the middle of a pandemic that was killing and hospitalizing disproportionately higher rates of them, Black and brown people began to publicly talk about vaccines as a shield that would help keep them safer, stay on the job and protect their families. And they began telling others to get vaccinated. By December, vaccine reluctance among these communities dropped by double-digits. By the end of February 2021, the percentage of Black and Hispanic people refusing to get vaccinated was down to the low 20s. By May, hesitancy wasn’t the main barrier for under-represented communities and vaccinations; things like transportation and schedules were. But though Black and Hispanic Americans are now increasingly rolling up their sleeves, one group continues to refuse vaccinations: White, evangelical and rural Americans. We heard one rural Michigan patient call vaccines a form of government control. Another repeated the unfounded claim that Covid-19 was a Chinese bioweapons plot. One patient refused to get vaccinated despite getting Covid-19 twice, a rare reinfection. Rural white people scoffed at vaccines, citing microchips and infertility, or Fox News disinformation slandering health experts for lying about vaccine efficacy data and calling vaccines a tool for social control. We heard patients accuse hospital workers of being highly paid actors maintaining the pandemic charade. Vaccines have struck conservative Republican leaders with a kind of stubborn anosognosia, an inability to line themselves up with reality. Former President Donald Trump, who was vaccinated quietly in January, encouraged people to get vaccinated on April 22 — almost 100 days after leaving office. Meanwhile, state Republican leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis botched vaccination distribution, while continuing to mangle the science. In Michigan, GOP legislative leaders are undermining vaccinations in word and in deed, including holding millions of dollars in federal vaccination funds hostage. The conservative base, however, says it would rather listen to doctors than politicians anyway. If the only information — or misinformation — about the pandemic is from Fox News and OANN, then the antidote is information from a source who understands the science, the medicine and most importantly, the community. In the case of rural conservative communities, that source would be rural conservative family physicians who go to the same churches, fish the same stretch of river and volunteer every Friday night at local high school football games. These are the doctors who care for every stage of a family’s life. Births, broken arms, deliveries, disease management and deaths. They aren’t just trusted, they’re family —minus the birthright of blood. Most importantly, they know how vaccines and medicine work. We work with doctors like these, doctors who are just as frustrated as we are with vaccine rejection and pandemic denials, doctors who ask all the time what more we can do to break through. Here’s an idea: Recruit these rural family doctors to be messengers in communities where vaccine rejection is high. Host small presentations in churches and 4-H meetings, with the doctors listening, answering questions, debunking conspiracies about microchips and slowly, one by one, moving hearts and minds. These conversations won’t be easy, quick or necessarily successful. A family physician colleague in a small rural town in the middle of Michigan shared a story about talking to a patient, a longtime leader of the Michigan Militia, about vaccinations. Despite his curt dismissiveness, she persisted, she listened, she walked through the cost-benefit analysis of getting the vaccine vs. getting a virus that’s 10 times deadlier than the flu. By the end of the office visit, the militiaman told his family doctor that he would get vaccinated. Perhaps this may also be the best way to finally reach people like the elderly Michigan couple who showed up with Covid-19 at the emergency department, refusing to get vaccinated because they didn’t think the pandemic is such a big deal. We hope they recovered — and we hope they’ll reconsider getting vaccinated. By the summer, we should know how close we are to herd immunity — if we are close. In the meantime, we have a wily Covid-19 variant that’s more contagious. We’re seeing patients who are younger and vaccinated at only a fraction of the rate of people 65 and older. In coming months, the race to vaccinate America will likely feel more like a slog, where every shot counts and every 4-H conversation matters. One conversation at a time, every physician has an opportunity to change a mind and get us back to normal. If one country doctor can persuade a member of the Michigan Militia to change his mind and get vaccinated, maybe there is hope after all.