But vaccination might still be wise for seniors
Your chance of dying of Covid is low. You are far more likely to die of anything but Covid, even if you are of advanced age, according to data collected by the Heritage Foundation.
Heritage schematic
https://datavisualizations.heritage.org/public-health/covid-19-deaths-by-age/
The foundation reports:
It must be noted that those Covid figures were not gathered in the United States, where hospital medical care is high tech and quite efficient. There have been few instances where U.S. hospitals were so overwhelmed that they had to cease care for the most gravely ill patients.
Thus, it as at least plausible that for people 65 and older the risk of Covid death is somewhat higher than it is for flu or pneumonia. Those in their mid-70's or older may face a substantially higher risk: 11.6%.
Since immune system weakening generally progresses with age, investigators are sure that younger immuno-compromised persons run risks comparable to those run by seniors.
So it makes sense for those in the affected age range to voluntarily seek vaccination. On the other hand the only reason for younger people to be vaccinated would be to reduce the chance of spreading the virus to seniors and others with immune problems. But there is no law or legal principle that requires a citizen to put himself or herself at risk for the benefit of others, excepting in military situations.
True, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the allergic reaction rate to the two-dose vaccine is miniscule: 0.00011%. Yet, should it still not be a citizen's right to decide whether to take this risk? After all, he or she may have some reason to suspect that the adverse reaction rate is higher than reported. Even if wrong about that, doesn't he or she have the right to be wrong?
According to a CDC report:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7002e1.htm
The CDC found that vaccination drastically reduced the risk of contracting Covid, according to a recent report. Vaccination also curbed the Delta Variant, researchers said.
Vaccination report
https://www.contagionlive.com/view/cdc-vaccinated-people-reduced-risk-of-mortality-by-more-10-times
Unvaccinated
Of 569,142 affirmed Covid cases, 6192 ended in death, for a mortality rate of 1%.
Of 34,972 Covid hospitalizations, 6192 ended in death. That is, a person treated for Covid in a hospital faced a 17.7% death toll.
Vaccinated
Of 46,312 affirmed cases, 616 ended in death, for a mortality rate of 1.3%. But the chance of catching the disease was only 8% of the number of unvaccinated who came down with Covid.
Of the 2,976 hospitalized for Covid, the death rate was 20.6%. Though that figure is slightly higher than the comparable figure for the unvaccinated, there are a number of variables that make it difficult to say that the difference is statistically significant.
A word on death tolls: The rate may be the number of deaths divided by population (and multiplied by 100 to obtain a percentage). The rate may be the number of substantiated cases divided by number of deaths. The rate may be number of hospitalizations divided by number of deaths.
According to recent figures, the Covid death rate is well below 1% at about 0.212% for a 22-month period (701,000 U.S. deaths divided by a U.S. population of 329.5 million). That accords with the finding that about 1% of people who catch Covid die from it. One would then suppose that the death rate for a relatively large population would be significantly lower that that.
When we reflect on the generally low death toll from Covid, we are left perplexed as to why federal health officials advocate mass wearing of cloth masks, which are unlikely to be much of a screen against the ultra-tiny virus particles and which are easily contaminated by the wearer's hands, which are far more likely to encounter Covid particles, especially on door handles.
Heritage schematic
https://datavisualizations.heritage.org/public-health/covid-19-deaths-by-age/
The foundation reports:
CDC data also show that Americans, regardless of age group, are far more likely to die of something other than COVID-19. Even among those in the most heavily impacted age group (85 and older), only 13.3 percent of all deaths since February 2020 were due to COVID-19.In the United States, the death rate from pneumonia and flu was slightly lower than 1 in 1,000 for people aged 65 and above, according to official data for 2018. Precise and reliable U.S. Covid figures are strangely difficult to pinpoint on the internet. Nevertheless a 2020 statistical study published by Nature puts the Covid death rates at near zero for people under 50, about 5 per 1,000 people who are in their 50's and early 60's (a majority being men), and 116 per 1,000 for people who are in their mid-70's or older.
It must be noted that those Covid figures were not gathered in the United States, where hospital medical care is high tech and quite efficient. There have been few instances where U.S. hospitals were so overwhelmed that they had to cease care for the most gravely ill patients.
Thus, it as at least plausible that for people 65 and older the risk of Covid death is somewhat higher than it is for flu or pneumonia. Those in their mid-70's or older may face a substantially higher risk: 11.6%.
Since immune system weakening generally progresses with age, investigators are sure that younger immuno-compromised persons run risks comparable to those run by seniors.
So it makes sense for those in the affected age range to voluntarily seek vaccination. On the other hand the only reason for younger people to be vaccinated would be to reduce the chance of spreading the virus to seniors and others with immune problems. But there is no law or legal principle that requires a citizen to put himself or herself at risk for the benefit of others, excepting in military situations.
True, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the allergic reaction rate to the two-dose vaccine is miniscule: 0.00011%. Yet, should it still not be a citizen's right to decide whether to take this risk? After all, he or she may have some reason to suspect that the adverse reaction rate is higher than reported. Even if wrong about that, doesn't he or she have the right to be wrong?
According to a CDC report:
During December 14–23, 2020, monitoring by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System detected 21 cases of anaphylaxis after administration of a reported 1,893,360 first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (11.1 cases per million doses); 71% of these occurred within 15 minutes of vaccination.CDC report
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7002e1.htm
The CDC found that vaccination drastically reduced the risk of contracting Covid, according to a recent report. Vaccination also curbed the Delta Variant, researchers said.
Vaccination report
https://www.contagionlive.com/view/cdc-vaccinated-people-reduced-risk-of-mortality-by-more-10-times
During April 4–July 17, a total of 569,142 (92%) COVID-19 cases, 34,972 (92%) hospitalizations, and 6,132 (91%) COVID-19–associated deaths were reported among persons not fully vaccinated, and 46,312 (8%) cases, 2,976 (8%) hospitalizations, and 616 (9%) deaths were reported among fully vaccinated persons in the 13 jurisdictions.Vaccinated persons who contracted Covid anyway ran about the same risks as those who had not been vaccinated, according to the CDC figures.
Unvaccinated
Of 569,142 affirmed Covid cases, 6192 ended in death, for a mortality rate of 1%.
Of 34,972 Covid hospitalizations, 6192 ended in death. That is, a person treated for Covid in a hospital faced a 17.7% death toll.
Vaccinated
Of 46,312 affirmed cases, 616 ended in death, for a mortality rate of 1.3%. But the chance of catching the disease was only 8% of the number of unvaccinated who came down with Covid.
Of the 2,976 hospitalized for Covid, the death rate was 20.6%. Though that figure is slightly higher than the comparable figure for the unvaccinated, there are a number of variables that make it difficult to say that the difference is statistically significant.
A word on death tolls: The rate may be the number of deaths divided by population (and multiplied by 100 to obtain a percentage). The rate may be the number of substantiated cases divided by number of deaths. The rate may be number of hospitalizations divided by number of deaths.
According to recent figures, the Covid death rate is well below 1% at about 0.212% for a 22-month period (701,000 U.S. deaths divided by a U.S. population of 329.5 million). That accords with the finding that about 1% of people who catch Covid die from it. One would then suppose that the death rate for a relatively large population would be significantly lower that that.
When we reflect on the generally low death toll from Covid, we are left perplexed as to why federal health officials advocate mass wearing of cloth masks, which are unlikely to be much of a screen against the ultra-tiny virus particles and which are easily contaminated by the wearer's hands, which are far more likely to encounter Covid particles, especially on door handles.
No comments:
Post a Comment