How Many People Got Vaccinated

‘out Of Commission For A Day’

Steve Walz, head of international relations at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, spoke to Insider after his third dose of Pfizer. “The only thing that bothered me was I was extremely tired for 24 hours,” Walz, who is in his 60s, said. “That’s it. I didn’t have any of those shakes, fevers, or all the other reactions that most people have. I guess I’m fortunate.”

Younger adults told Insider similar stories.

Alec Lynch, who’s 21 and on medication that affects his immune system, said he was “just out of commission for a day,” laying in bed after he got a third shot of Pfizer in August. Lynch described feeling “tired and achy” and “kind of gross” but without a fever.

32-year-old Andy Sparks who boosted his single shot J& J vaccine with a shot of Moderna said his arm hurt “way worse” after the Moderna boost than with the initial J& J.

Katie Bent, 30, boosted her J& J with Pfizer and said after that second shot she was so tired she slept for 15 hours, whereas with the J& J she was just “a little tired and sore afterwards.”

She said it felt like “when you’ve been sick for a while, and then the fever breaks and you know that you’re on the mend.”

Is There Enough Vaccine

The UK had ordered more than 540 million doses of seven of the most promising vaccines, including the four so far approved for use. But the French vaccine maker Valneva says the UK government has scrapped a deal for 100m doses of its vaccine, which is yet to be approved.

An extra 35 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were ordered in August, on top of another 60 million ordered earlier in the year, as part of the government’s plans for a vaccination booster programme.

But it has amended its original order of the Janssen single-dose vaccine from 30 million to 20 million doses, given the “unprecedented scale and pace” of the vaccination programme.

Ministers have also announced an eighth deal with biopharmaceutical company CureVac to develop vaccines against future variants.

It has placed an initial order for 50 million doses to be delivered later this year – if they are required.

When Might Nearly Everyone Be Vaccinated

Some experts have estimated that 90 percent or more of the total population adults and children would need to be fully vaccinated for the country to reach a possibly elusive threshold of protection against the coronavirus known as herd immunity, now that the outbreak is driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

A number of factors will determine if and when this threshold is met, including the pace at which newly vaccinated people join those who are immune after past infections. But the presence of more transmissible virus variants could complicate that progress. And children, who arent yet eligible, may be key to reaching herd immunity, experts say.

The projection below only shows the share of the total population with at least one shot based on the current rate of newly vaccinated people, but it provides a rough indication of when the viruss spread could begin to stall.

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Vaccine Development: Vaccines Approved For Use And In Clinical Trials

The speed at which the first COVID-19 vaccines were developed was extraordinary. We have previously looked into the history of vaccine development. The measles vaccine was found relatively rapidly: it took only 10 years from the discovery of the pathogen to the development of the first vaccine. But for typhoid it took more than a century, and for some diseases for which weve known the pathogens for more than a century we still havent found an effective vaccine.

The development of a vaccine against COVID-19 has been much faster than the development of any other vaccine. Within less than a year several successful vaccines have already been announced and were approved for use in some countries.

The hope is that even more manufacturers develop vaccines for COVID-19. This will be important because eventually a very large share of the world population needs to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

We are on the way to several vaccines against COVID-19 vaccine trackers monitor the progress:

Several institutions maintain websites on which they list COVID-19 candidate vaccines that are currently being developed:

The Case Fatality Rate

Related chart:

There is a straightforward question that most people would like answered. If someone is infected with COVID-19, how likely is that person to die?

This question is simple, but surprisingly hard to answer.

Here we explain why that is. Well discuss the case fatality rate, the crude mortality rate, and the infection fatality rate, and why theyre all different.

The key point is that the case fatality rate, the most commonly discussed measure of the risk of dying, is not the answer to the question, for two reasons. One, it relies on the number of confirmed cases, and many cases are not confirmed and two, it relies on the total number of deaths, and with COVID-19, some people who are sick and will die soon have not yet died. These two facts mean that it is extremely difficult to make accurate estimates of the true risk of death.

The case fatality rate

In the media, it is often the case fatality rate that is talked about when the risk of death from COVID-19 is discussed.1 This measure is sometimes called case fatality risk or case fatality ratio, or CFR.

But this is not the same as the risk of death for an infected person even though, unfortunately, journalists often suggest that it is. It is relevant and important, but far from the whole story.

Another important metric, which should not be confused with the CFR, is the crude mortality rate.

The crude mortality rate

But, just as with CFR, it is actually very different.

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Is Vaccine Data Contributing To Hesitancy

Cases among fully vaccinated individuals that occur at least two weeks following a second dose have been dubbed “breakthrough infections,” a term Chakrabarti doesn’t like as it creates a connotation that the vaccine didn’t work.

“I tried to coin a phrase previously, saying breakthrough infection of concern,” he said, noting that vaccines are preventing serious illness but that no amount of medication can completely prevent infection.

“We want to prevent serious disease, but we can’t prevent people from getting the common cold, if that makes sense.”

The number of hospitalizations in Ontario as a result of COVID-19 has dropped over the last few months as more and more people are vaccinated.

Over the past two weeks, there has been an average of 70.6 unvaccinated COVID-19 patients in Ontario intensive care units .

An average of 5.8 ICU patients since Oct. 15 are partially vaccinated and an average of 19.2 patients are fully vaccinated.

Chakrabarti says that most of the double vaccinated individuals in intensive care were not fully healthy when they contracted the novel coronavirus.

“They’re all people who have, you know, advanced cancer, bone marrow transplant, very elderly. So I think it’s important to differentiate the two,” he said, adding that the vast majority of patients either have advanced age or some type of significant comorbidity.

• Air Date: November 1, 2021

Where Are The Vaccines Coming From

The Pfizer-BioNTech jab – the first to be given the green light last December – is being imported from Puurs, Belgium.

A second vaccine, from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, is being made at a number of sites in Britain. Further doses are expected to come from the Serum Institute of India and the Halix plant in the Dutch city of Leiden.

The third, from Moderna, is coming from sites in Switzerland and Spain, via Belgium, while the Janssen vaccine, due to arrive later this year, is produced in the Netherlands by the Belgian firm, owned by Johnson & Johnson.

The UK is also lined up to receive another vaccine if approved for use.

The jab, manufactured by US firm Novavax, will be made in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England.

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How Experts Use Data To Identify Emerging Covid

This is a guest post from epidemiologists David Kennedy, Anna Seale, and Daniel Bausch , alongside Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser as part of the Exemplars in Global Health platform.

This article is one of a series focused on identifying and understanding Exemplars in the response to the Coronavirus pandemic. It is hosted by the Exemplars in Global Health platform.

Exemplars in Global Health is a coalition of experts, funders, and collaborators around the globe, supported by Gates Ventures and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who share the belief that rigorously understanding global health successes can help drive better resource allocation, policy, and implementation decisions. The Exemplars in Global Health platform was created to help decision-makers around the world quickly learn how countries have solved major health and human capital challenges.

The three Exemplar country studies are here: South Korea, Vietnam, and Germany

Case Fatality Rate Of Covid

Current data across countries suggests that the elderly are most at risk

Its helpful to estimate the risk of death across a population the average IFR, the chance of death if a random person in the country were to catch the disease, which we discussed above. It helps us know the severity of an outbreak.

But during an outbreak, its also crucial to know which groups within a population are most at risk. If we know which sections of society are most likely to die, or suffer other serious consequences, then that allows us to direct our resources towards the most vulnerable, who need them the most.

In the chart below, we see a breakdown of the CFR by age group across various countries who have made demographic data on confirmed cases and deaths available. It shows very large differences of the CFR by age.

This data is based on the number of confirmed cases and deaths in each age group as reported by national agencies. The figures come from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention as of 17th February Spanish Ministry of Health as of 24th March Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of 24th March and the Italian National Institute of Health, as presented in the paper by Onder et al. as of 17th March.17,18

For COVID-19 cases the opposite seems to be true. The elderly are at the greatest risk of dying, if infected with this virus.

Case fatality rate of COVID-19 by age group across countries.19,20

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How Each State Compares To The National Share Of Vaccinated People

There are many reasons eligible people are not vaccinated. Surveys have indicated that some people are adamant in their refusal of the coronavirus vaccines, while others are open to getting a shot but have been putting it off or want to wait and see before making a decision.

The first group, surveys have shown, tends to be disproportionately white, rural, evangelical Christian and politically conservative. The second group tends to be a more diverse and urban group, including many younger people, Black and Latino Americans, and Democrats.

In April, The New York Times analyzed vaccine records and voter records in every county in the United States and found that both willingness to receive a coronavirus vaccine and actual vaccination rates were lower, on average, in counties where a majority of residents voted to re-elect former President Donald J. Trump in 2020.

Voluntary Reporting By State Health Departments

When the United States began widespread COVID-19 vaccination, CDC put in place a system where state health departments could report COVID-19 breakthrough infections to CDC. After collecting data on thousands of breakthrough infections, CDC changed the reporting system to improve data quality on breakthrough infections, and primarily focus on those among people who are hospitalized or die. This shift helped maximize the quality of the data collected on infections of greatest clinical and public health importance. Currently, 49 states are reporting data.

• Unexpected patterns, such as trends in age or sex.
• The specific types or brands of vaccine involved.
• Underlying health conditions in these persons.
• Which SARS-CoV-2 variants are observed in persons who are hospitalized or who die.
• Demographic cohorts .

So far, CDC has not observed any unexpected patterns in these reported breakthrough infections.

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Map: How Many People Are Vaccinated In Each County

County-level data is most accurate in states that report county of residence to the CDC for a high percentage of people vaccinated. In states that report the county of residence at a lower rate, the vaccination rate for counties may appear to be lower than it actually is.

For this reason, data is not shown for states that included a county of residence for less than 80% of people vaccinated there. Some states, such as Texas and Hawaii, do not report county-level information to the CDC.

What We Know About Vaccine Breakthrough Infections

• Breakthrough infections are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing most infections. However, like most vaccines, they are not 100% effective.
• Fully vaccinated people with a breakthrough infection are less likely to develop serious illness than those who are unvaccinated and get COVID-19.
• Even when fully vaccinated people develop symptoms, they tend to be less severe symptoms than in unvaccinated people. This means they are much less likely to be hospitalized or die than people who are not vaccinated.
• People who get vaccine breakthrough infections can be contagious.

CDC is collecting data on vaccine breakthrough infections and closely monitors the safety and effectiveness of all Food and Drug Administration -authorized COVID-19 vaccines. Because vaccines are not 100% effective, as the number of people who are fully vaccinated goes up, the number of breakthrough infections will also increase. However, the risk of infection remains much higher for unvaccinated than vaccinated people. Vaccines remain effective in protecting most people from COVID-19 infection and its complications.

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A Lack Of Trust Concerns Over Vaccine Passports

A lack of trust in both the government and the media was also a common theme among Canadians who emailed CTVNews.ca, many of whom cited concerns about a lack of opposing opinions or views on vaccines.

“All you report on is the official narrative that vaccines are the only option and they are completely safe. For the record, we are not expecting you to endorse any of these alternate views, but we want to hear them,” wrote a reader who asked to be identified only as Matthew George.

“We want to have a healthy discussion about all of the potential risks to the vaccines.”

Several readers echoed this sentiment, adding that they felt there has been a lack of transparency from the government.

“We elect people to take care of our best interests and they have failed to do so time and time again. Likely will a third time,” said Jesse May of Toronto. “Resistance of getting a vaccine is our way of rebelling to an obviously failed and incompetent political system in this country. Getting the needle has been used as a poster card.”

Many also suggested that potential government-mandated “passports” certifying vaccination would infringe on their rights.

Zachary Perdue, a Bradford, Ont. resident, feels it should be up to each individual whether they get a COVID-19 shot, and people shouldn’t be judged for their decisions.

“The talk of vaccine passports to simply access gyms and restaurants is absolute insanity and complete violation of human rights,” Perdue wrote.

Seven States Had Flu Vaccination Rates Over 58% During The 2019

According to the CDC, the flu vaccine prevented an estimated 7.5 million influenza illnesses during the 2019-20 season. Vaccinations also prevented an estimated 105,000 hospitalizations and 6,300 deaths. The agency also says in years where the vaccine is effectively matched against the season’s flu, it reduces the risk of illness between 40% to 60%.

It is too early to say if the COVID-19 pandemic will affect flu vaccination rates. For the coming flu season, the CDC recommends all people older than six months without a conflicting health condition should get a vaccine to protect yourself and the people around you from flu, and to help reduce the strain on healthcare systems responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency notes that while the flu shares some symptoms with COVID-19, they are different, and a flu vaccine wont protect a person from coronavirus.

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How Many People Need To Get Vaccinated

Herd immunity looks different for different viruses. That’s because the concept hinges on how easily a particular virus spreads from person to person.

“It’s still unclear exactly how many people will need to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity to COVID-19, but experts estimate that it will take at least 70% of the population with some estimates ranging as high as 90%,” says Dr. Drews.

In the U.S., that means at least 248 million people will need to be vaccinated.

“What we need to keep in mind is that some people can’t get vaccinated, either due to their age or medical history. So those of us who can get vaccinated need to do our part to protect those who can’t,” explains Dr. Drews.

Lastly, if you’ve already had COVID-19, don’t assume this means that you don’t need to get vaccinated. It’s important to know that you can get COVID-19 more than once meaning vaccination is still important for you, too.

So, even if you’re young and healthy and even if you’ve had COVID-19 and recovered, here’s why herd immunity is so necessary.

Vaccine Rollout: Maps Of Vaccination Rate By Area

The federal government releases weekly data for vaccination rates by statistical area 4 regions. By comparing the rates from the first report on 1 August with subsequent reports we can see the areas with the biggest weekly percentage increases in vaccination, and biggest increases since the data was released.

You can use the dropdown menu to switch between showing the vaccination rate for each area, and the percentage change in vaccination rate for each area:

Here, you can see the same information in a table, which can be sorted by region name, state or the change in vaccination percentage:

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