Tuesday, February 08, 2022

Hot Dog Guy Dot Gif

COVID IS OVER guy (David Leonhardt) spends a year saying COVID is over and downplaying the need for boosters.

August 30:

Is Vaccine Immunity Waning?

It may not really be waning much — which means universal booster shots may do little good.

This one is important, because it had been very much established by then that vaccine efficacy was waning, and other countries were pushing their booster programs.

November 23:

The argument for booster shots can be similar. Most younger and middle-aged adults who have received two Covid vaccine shots remain highly protected from severe illness (as these charts show). But the vaccines do seem to wane enough to make people more susceptible to a mild infection they could pass on to a vulnerable person. All Americans age 18 and up are now eligible for booster shots if their most recent shot was at least six month ago.


When discussion of boosters started a few months ago, I was somewhat skeptical, because the evidence of their benefit for most individuals was thin. Their communal value now seems clear, though. I recently got a booster shot, mostly because I will be spending time with older relatives in the coming weeks. The case for booster shots among people over 65 is even stronger.

Translated: younger people might want to get one to stop killing granny, though otherwise it doesn't matter, but I've spent a year telling people to not worry about killing granny, so lol whatever.


What explains the American booster shortfall? I think there are two main answers, both related to problems with the American health system.


First, medical care in the U.S. is notoriously fragmented. There is neither a centralized record system, as in Taiwan, nor a universal insurance system, as in Canada and Scandinavia, to remind people to get another shot. Many Americans also do not have a regular contact point for their health care.


The second problem is one that has also bedeviled other aspects of U.S. Covid response: Government health officials, as well as some experts, struggle to communicate effectively with the hundreds of millions of us who are not experts.

They speak in the language of academia, without recognizing how it confuses people. Rather than clearly explaining the big picture, they emphasize small amounts of uncertainty that are important to scientific research but can be counterproductive during a global emergency. They are cautious to the point of hampering public health.


These fucking people.

Even if you aren't interested in my "David Leonhardt has a lot to answer for!" anger, it's absolutely hilarious that he leaves out the ROLE OF THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT AND MEDIA in all of this. Not a mention, anywhere.

To make myself clear: both those exaggerating the efficacy of vaccines, even once it was known that it faded (Leonhardt and the centrist Covid Is Over movement), and those enagaged in vaccine denial (conservative movement/media) have responsibility for the lack of interest in boosters!