Why we can’t ‘boost’ our way out of the COVID-19 pandemic for the long term

  With yet another COVID-19 booster available for vulnerable populations in the U.S., many people find themselves wondering what the end game will be.

  The mRNA vaccines currently used in the U.S. against COVID-19 have been highly successful at preventing hospitalization and death. The Commonwealth Fund recently reported that in the U.S. alone, the vaccines have prevented over 2 million people from dying and over 17 million from hospitalization.

  However, the vaccines have failed to provide long-term protective immunity to prevent breakthrough infections – cases of COVID-19 infection that occur in people who are fully vaccinated.

Is it a crime to forge a vaccine card? And what’s the penalty for using a fake?

  Schools, businesses, the military, and local governments are requiring proof of vaccination. Yet, unlike the European Union and Australia, which have secure digital proof of vaccination, the United States has not created a systematic way to track vaccinations around the nation. Most places in the U.S. instead rely on paper cards with handwritten notes, which can be easily forged.

What does full FDA approval of a vaccine do if it’s already authorized for emergency use?

  Thirty percent of unvaccinated American adults say they’re waiting for the COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized for emergency use to be officially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has since granted that approval for those age 16 and older for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Aug. 23, 2021. What had to happen for the FDA to advance from emergency use authorization, or EUA, to full approval?

Can health insurance companies charge the unvaccinated higher premiums? What about life insurers? 5 questions answered

  The current COVID-19 wave in the U.S. is mostly affecting unvaccinated Americans, who represent more than 95% of current cases of hospitalization and death.

  Given the average cost of a COVID-19 hospitalization in 2020 ran about US$42,200 per patient, will the unvaccinated be asked to bear more of the cost of treatment, in terms of insurance, as well?

Hank Sanders: Sketches #1781 - A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

  "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” This quote is attributed to Alexander Pope. The full statement from his 1709 An Essay On Criticism, is as follows: “A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain. And drinking largely sobers us again” I was reminded of this saying when I read several striking facts concerning vaccinations for COVID-19. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Christian nationalism is a barrier to mass vaccination against COVID-19

  While the majority of Americans either intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine or have already received their shots, getting white evangelicals to vaccination sites may prove more of a challenge – especially those who identify as Christian nationalists.

  A Pew Research Center survey conducted in February found white evangelicals to be the religious group least likely to say they’d be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Nearly half (45%) said they would not get the COVID-19 shot compared with 30% of the general population.

3 ways employers could help fight vaccine skepticism

  Ending the pandemic depends on achieving herd immunity, estimated at 70% or even 80% to 90% of a population. With some 30% of Americans telling pollsters they have no interest in getting vaccinated, that’s cutting it a bit close. The numbers are even worse in many other countries.

Why the next major hurdle to ending the pandemic will be about persuading people to get vaccinated

  Today, more Americans hope to receive a COVID-19 vaccine than the current vaccine supply will allow. Consequently, although President Joe Biden’s initial promise to dole out 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days would require a ramp-up in vaccine allocation, some consider the promise to be insufficient to meet current levels of demand and put the pandemic’s spread into decline.

  The current mismatch between vaccine demand and supply, however, may be short-lived. Despite concerns about lagging vaccine allocation for front-line health care workers and other vulnerable groups, health experts are optimistic that public demand for a COVID-19 vaccine will remain high in the coming months as more vaccine doses become available.

How many people need to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to stop the coronavirus?

  It has been clear for a while that, at least in the U.S., the only way out of the coronavirus pandemic will be through vaccination. The rapid deployment of coronavirus vaccines is underway, but how many people need to be vaccinated in order to control this pandemic?

  I am a computational biologist who uses data and computer models to answer biological questions at the University of Connecticut. I have been tracking my state’s COVID-19 epidemic with a computer model to help forecast the number of hospitalizations at the University of Connecticut’s John Dempsey Hospital.

A majority of vaccine skeptics plan to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine, a study suggests, and that could be a big problem

  The availability of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus will likely play a key role in determining when Americans can return to life as usual. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on April 30 announced that a vaccine could even be available by January 2021.

  Whether a vaccine can end this pandemic successfully, however, depends on more than its effectiveness at providing immunity against the virus or how quickly it can be produced in mass quantities. Americans also must choose to receive the vaccine.