Vaccination rates are reflected in hospitalization and deaths.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/highly-vaccinated-states-keep-worst-covid-19-outcomes-in-check-as-delta-spreads-wsj-analysis-shows-11628328602

More and more data are confirming the toll on the unvaccinated and their impacts on healthcare facilities by state. Bottom line is that vaccines are working very well even with breakthrough infections, which are still very low compared to the unvaccinated. “Cut the gab and get the jab”, LR, 8/7/21

Just when one thinks that the GOP can’t top their lunacy…

And now let’s shoot the vaccine outreach workers. Is this really a helpful suggestion in a pandemic?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/marjorie-taylor-greene-suggests-southerners-could-welcome-biden-s-police-n1276152

“What they don’t know is in the South, we all love our Second Amendment rights, and we’re not real big on strangers showing up on our front door, are we? They might not like the welcome they get.”

The irony is that in that same speech she blamed Dr. Fauci for creating the virus, killing millions, for which there is a vaccine that works quite well. She doesn’t suggest taking the jab, but shooting the outreach people trying to encourage vaccination.

Deplorable is not strong enough to describe that ignorant and evil Congresswoman. She is trying to get political support on the threat of violence rather than encouraging pandemic safety.

Alzheimer’s and vaccines

WSJ: Vaccines in general protect against Alzheimer’s

The gist of the article is that evidence is pouring in of a strong, though unexpected, link between vaccines, in general, and protection against Alzheimer’s.

It appears that activating the immune system, regardless of the targeted microbe, also activates the removal of the plaques associated with cognitive decline. 

That would help explain why Alzheimer’s seems to be paradoxically more prominent in countries with better sanitation and less exposure to infectious disease. 

Children are getting sicker with Delta and there are more cases.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/delta-variant-more-dangerous-children-growing-number-kids-are-very-n1276035

With schools opening, mask wearing banned, and greater transmissibility, local health officials in the heavily affected states are truly concerned that the false mantra of children being at little risk is fading. Flu season on top of this could be particularly dangerous for children.

Maybe, just maybe, this could be a wake up call when kids become sick, hospitalized and die. This has already happened, but the numbers are still low.

Sterilizing Immunity and COVID-19 Vaccines

Source: Verywell.

I never heard the term sterilizing immunity until just the other day, but the concept was deeply embedded in my own assumptions. I assumed that all immunity is “sterilizing,” meaning that disease and infection are both prevented. It turns out that immunity can also be “non-sterilizing,” meaning that while disease is prevented infection is not.

I find the distinction useful for making sense of media reports on Covid-19 vaccines. For example, when a journalist talks about the “efficacy” of a vaccine you can usually interpret that as referring to its sterilizing effect. In fact, effective immunity — also called practical immunity — is synonymous with non-sterilizing immunity.

The Covid-19 vaccines confer non-sterilizing immunity. That’s much simpler to understand than the idea that no vaccine is perfect.

Bears

Kerry’s site

If you haven’t read Kerry Dougherty’s blog today, you should.

The outbreak in Massachusetts was not a representative sample of the country as a whole, and it is doubtful that national policy should be guided by an event that involves closer contact than our everyday interactions.