What Is Herd Immunity
Herd immunity is achieved when a significant proportion of a population becomes immune to an infectious disease, either through vaccination or previous infection, which makes further person-to-person spread unlikely.
In the cattle analogy made by Malone and Hinman, a community free of infectious diseases because of its high vaccination rate can be viewed as a common. And its existence brings the best interest of the community and the individual motivations into conflict.
For instance, herd immunity can be achieved without vaccinating 100% of a population. Depending on the disease, the threshold could be as low as 70% inoculated.
Since the entire population doesnt have to be inoculated, a portion of it will decline vaccination. Individually, the unvaccinated can receive protection from the herd effect though their lack of immunity weakens the communitys protection overall.
Think of it in terms of a rowboat. If one person stops rowing, the boat will still move, just slightly slower. And this wouldnt be of any consequence to the one person abstaining.
Should enough people stop rowing, the boat would slow to a crawl, and everyone in the boat would suffer.
If enough people refuse vaccination before herd immunity can be reached, disease outbreaks occur. Malone and Hinman described this fate as another “tragedy of the commons.”
They said communities and, more recently, states have avoided it by imposing legal requirements for vaccinations.
The Start: 3 Vaccines Tight Supply
The effort began with Operation Warp Speed under the Trump administration, and came to fruition on Dec. 11, 2020, when the Food and Drug Administration vaccine the Moderna vaccine was approved one week later.
Because of limited supply and immediate risk to those living in nursing homes, seniors and essential workers were allotted the first shots. As supplies increased after the first month, states determined which groups of people, such as grocery store workers, firefighters and other essential workers, would be next in line to get the shot.
President Joe Biden had pledged 200 million Covid vaccinations in his first 100 days in office, and met that goal in April.
The U.S. added hundreds of millions of more doses of the two available vaccines in the country in December 2020, and added even more when the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine was approved in February.
To date, the U.S. has delivered more than 600 million doses, administering nearly 500 million doses, or 82 percent of the distributed supply. Of the shots given, 58 percent have been Pfizer-BioNTech shots, 38 percent Moderna and 3.5 percent Johnson & Johnson.
In April, Biden announced a deadline to make all adults eligible for the vaccine. At that time, about 1 in 4 U.S. adults had completed their vaccination series.
In May, the Food and Drug Administration for children ages 12 to 15. New Covid cases continued to drop that month, and by the end of May half of all adults completed a vaccination series.
Penalties And Transfer Of Offenders
A serious violation of the law may lead to a jail sentence or, in some states, a death sentence. Canadian citizenship confers no immunity, special protection or rights to preferential treatment.
If a jail sentence is imposed, it will be served in a U.S. prison, unless a request for a transfer to a Canadian prison is approved by the United States and Canada. Both countries have signed a treaty that permits a Canadian imprisoned in the United States to request a transfer to complete the sentence in a Canadian prison.
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Federal Government Estimates Of Covid
Estimated share of adults who may be
hesitant to get the vaccine
To be sure, there are counties that supported Mr. Trump in the last election and now have above-average vaccination rates.
Some officials in those counties said their rates have lately plateaued.
In Tama County, Iowa, where Mr. Trump won by a wide margin last year and the vaccination rate is above the national average, the health department runs a clinic a few days a week at a former juvenile correctional facility.
Until recently, staff and volunteers were regularly giving shots to about 120 to 150 people in a day, according to Shannon Zoffka, the executive director of the department and a registered Democrat. When the state expanded its eligibility rules to include all adults, she expected the phones to be ringing off the hook. Instead, she said, about 120 people made appointments for the entire past week.
When you hit that saturation point, you dont realize its coming, she said. It just happens.
Likewise, some counties that supported Mr. Biden are now lagging in vaccination efforts. In Hudson County, N.J., which supported Mr. Biden by a wide margin last year, about 25 percent of adult residents have been fully vaccinated.
Its so frustrating to be so low on the percentage of folks getting vaccinated when all our shots are getting into arms, Mr. Drumeler said. But hesitancy is not a hurdle we are encountering yet.
So far, only about 15 percent of adults in the county have been fully vaccinated.
Full List Of Ingredients
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine contains the following ingredients:
Type of Ingredient
- Nucleoside-modified mRNA encoding the viral spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2
Purpose
Provides instructions the body uses to build a harmless piece of a protein from the virus that causes COVID-19. This protein causes an immune response that helps protect the body from getting sick with COVID-19 in the future.
Type of Ingredient
- SM-102: heptadecane-9-yl 8- hexyl) amino) octanoate
Purpose
Work together to help the mRNA enter cells.
Type of Ingredient
Salt, sugar, acid stabilizers, and acid
Ingredient
- Acetic acid
Purpose
Work together to help keep the vaccine molecules stable while the vaccine is manufactured, frozen, shipped, and stored until it is ready to be given to a vaccine recipient.
Messenger ribonucleic acid :Nucleoside-modified mRNA encoding the viral spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2
PurposeProvides instructions the body uses to build a harmless piece of a protein from the virus that causes COVID-19. This protein causes an immune response that helps to protect the body from getting sick with COVID-19 in the future.
Lipids :
- SM-102: heptadecane-9-yl 8- hexyl) amino) octanoate
PurposeWork together to help the mRNA enter cells
Salt, sugar, acid stabilizers, and acid:
- Sodium acetate
- Acetic acid
PurposeWork together to help keep the vaccine molecules stable while the vaccine is manufactured, frozen, shipped, and stored until it is ready to be given to a vaccine recipient.
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Meaning Of Fully Vaccinated
The CDC webpage Requirement for Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination for Air Passengers describes the meaning of “fully vaccinated” for this purpose:
“Are you Fully Vaccinated for Air Travel to the United States?
You are considered fully vaccinated:
2 weeks after your dose of an accepted single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
2 weeks after your second dose of an accepted 2-dose series COVID-19 vaccine or
2 weeks after you received the full series of an “active” COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.-based AstraZeneca or Novavax COVID-19 vaccine trials
2 weeks after you received 2 doses of any “mix-and-match” combination of accepted COVID-19 vaccines administered at least 17 days apart*
If you don’t meet these requirements, you are NOT considered fully vaccinated.
*CDC has not recommended the use of mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccine primary series. However, such strategies are increasingly common in many countries outside of the United States. Therefore, for the purpose of interpreting vaccination records for travel to the United States, CDC will accept combinations of accepted COVID-19 vaccines.”
Million Covid Vaccine Doses Thrown Away In The Us Since March New Data Shows
Pharmacies and state governments in the United States have thrown away at least 15.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since March 1, according to government data obtained by NBC News a far larger number than previously known and still probably an undercount.
Four national pharmacy chains reported more than 1 million wasted doses each, according to data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in response to a public records request. Walgreens reported the most waste of any pharmacy, state or other vaccine provider, with nearly 2.6 million wasted doses. CVS reported 2.3 million wasted doses, while Walmart reported 1.6 million and Rite Aid reported 1.1 million.
The data released by the CDC is self-reported by pharmacies, states and other vaccine providers. It is not comprehensive missing some states and federal providers and it does not include the reason doses had to be thrown away. In one example of missing data, the CDC lists just 12 wasted doses for Michigan since March, but Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services said on Wednesday that the state has thrown away 257,673 doses since December.
The number of discarded doses is still a small fraction of the total doses administered in the U.S.
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Billions Were Spent On The Coronavirus Vaccines
A major takeaway is that the United States has grabbed 41 percent of total vaccine sales, even though it only makes up about 5 percent of the worlds population.
The coronavirus vaccines are, of course, free of charge for everyone, at least in the United States. However, that doesnt mean they werent paid for somewhere along the way.
In fact, billions of dollars have been spent on the vaccines to date, most of it by the government. In a report Thursday, Axios looked at how much has been spent, both in the United States and worldwide, on the different vaccines.
According to the report, the Pfizer vaccine has sold the most, clearing $4.1 billion in the United States and $7.2 billion outside the country. The Moderna vaccine was second, with $3.5 billion in sales domestically and just $2.5 billion internationally. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was approved later and was suspended for a time, sold 151 million shots in the United States and 113 million internationally. The AstraZeneca vaccine, not approved in the United States, had zero shots domestically, but over 1.1 billion internationally.
The numbers are for the period beginning January 1 and ending June 30. Sales are also expected to reach $60 billion by the end of the year.
According to the Financial Times, Pfizer and Moderna recently raised prices for Covid-19 vaccines in the European Union.
Image: Reuters.
The Pace Of Vaccinations Has Been Steadily Climbing Since The Summer
Based on the seven-day average of people becoming fully vaccinated each day.
But the pace of vaccinations varies across the country. Many states in the South and West, for example, have fully vaccinated a smaller share of their population than in other regions.
On Dec. 9, the C.D.C capped its vaccination rate figures at 95 percent, after acknowledging that it may be overestimating first doses of the vaccine and underestimating booster shots. As a result, even locations that have exceeded that vaccination rate will remain at 95 percent.
The C.D.C. said on its website that the cap helps address potential overestimates of vaccination coverage due to first, second, and booster doses that were not linked. Other possible reasons for overestimation, according to the agency, include census population data that excludes part-time residents or reporting errors.
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Who Are The Unvaccinated In America Theres No One Answer
One segment of people who have avoided shots is vehemently opposed to the idea. But there is a second group, surveys suggest, that is still deciding.
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By , , and Tim Arango
As coronavirus cases rise across the United States, the fight against the pandemic is focused on an estimated 93 million people who are eligible for shots but have chosen not to get them. These are the Americans who are most vulnerable to serious illness from the highly contagious Delta variant and most likely to carry the virus, spreading it further.
It turns out, though, that this is not a single set of Americans, but in many ways two.
In one group are those who say they are adamant in their refusal of the coronavirus vaccines they include a mix of people but tend to be disproportionately white, rural, evangelical Christian and politically conservative, surveys show.
In the other are those who say they are open to getting a shot but have been putting it off or want to wait and see before making a decision they are a broad range of people, but tend to be a more diverse and urban group, including many younger people, Black and Latino Americans, and Democrats.
Steven Harris, 58, who said he believes that the antibodies he has from getting Covid-19 are sufficiently protective.
Percent of residents who are not fully vaccinated
What We’re Covering Here
- The US reached a seven-day average of 254,496 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest this number has ever been over the course of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
- Several European countries such as France, the UK, Italy, and Portugal are also seeing a large increase in daily new cases, many even setting new pandemic records.
- Meanwhile, many Latin American countries now reporting higher vaccination rates than Europe and North America.
Our live coverage has ended. Read the latest here.
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Mexico Will Allow Cruise Ships With Covid
From CNN’s Michelle Velez, Matt Rivers and Valentina Di Donato
Cruise ships with Covid-19 positive passengers will be allowed to disembark in Mexico and the country will provide medical assistance to passengers, according to a news release Tuesday from the Mexican Government.
In accordance with the biosafety protocols established in the national and international spheres, the Government of Mexico will receive in its maritime ports cruise ships that request to dock in our country, the statement said.
The Secretaries of Health and Tourism of the Government of Mexico reiterate the commitment to respect the provisions of the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization , for which cruises will be received in ports maritime of the country, the statement continued.
Mexico has no testing requirement for entry into the country. People who do not present symptoms will be able to carry out their tourist activities with respect to the basic prevention measures, the release said.
Answers To Key Questions About Covid
To help answer common vaccine questions, we consulted Dr. Stanley Perlman, a professor at the University of Iowas Carver College of Medicine and a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations vaccine advisory committee, and Angela Shen, a visiting scientist with the Vaccine Education Center at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.
When can I get a vaccine?
Now, if you’re at least 12 years old.
All three vaccines are widely available for anyone over 18, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said kids ages 12 to 18 can get Pfizer-BioNTech’s shot.
Where are COVID-19 vaccines available?
COVID-19 vaccines are now available in a variety of locations, including pharmacies, hospitals and public clinics. To find an appointment in your area, you can search VaccineFinder.org, which collects data directly from government agencies.
How much does it cost to get vaccinated?
Nothing for the vaccine itself. The federal Operation Warp Speed program funded vaccine development with the intent that they be offered free to all Americans, regardless of insurance status.
The caveat: The facility where you get the vaccine may choose to charge something like an administrative fee.
Can I choose which vaccine I get?
Probably. Vaccine supply is now good enough that many clinics stock different types and allow people to choose which one they want.
What are the differences between the shots?
Can pregnant people get the vaccine?
Can kids get the vaccine?
Can kids get the vaccine?
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Sex Differences In Mortality
The high mortality rate of the influenza pandemic is one aspect that sets the pandemic apart from other disease outbreaks. Another factor is the higher mortality rate of men compared with women. Men with an underlying condition were at significantly more risk. Tuberculosis was one of the deadliest diseases in the 1900s, and killed more men than women. But with the spread of influenza disease, the cases of tuberculosis cases in men decreased. Many scholars have noted that tuberculosis increased the mortality rate of influenza in males, decreasing their life expectancy. During the 1900s tuberculosis was more common in males than females, but studies show that when influenza spread the tuberculosis mortality rate among females changed. The death rate of tuberculosis in females increased significantly and would continue to decline until post-pandemic.
Death rates were particularly high in those aged 2035. The only comparable disease to this was the black death, bubonic plague in the 1300s. As other studies have shown, tuberculosis and influenza had comorbidities and one affected the other. The ages of males dying of the flu show that tuberculosis was a factor, and as males primarily had this disease at the time of the pandemic, they had a higher mortality rate. Life expectancy dropped in males during the pandemic but then increased two years after the pandemic
Vaccination Rollout Across The United States
The United States is racing to vaccinate a population of 328 million. But local health officials are progressing at vastly different rates. Hover your cursor over each jurisdiction to explore how many doses have been administered, how many people have received vaccines, and what percentage of the population has been fully vaccinated. Click on states to view their full profiles.
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Wall Street Reacts To Covid
As debates abound over whether coronavirus vaccinations should be required in public schools, many experts point out that students already are required to receive several other routine vaccinations to attend childcare or classes in the United States.