Break It Down!: Vaccinations Surpass COVID-19 Cases: A Stat With Which More of Us Can Live

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Vaccinations Surpass COVID-19 Cases: A Stat With Which More of Us Can Live

It's time to Break It Down!

The vaccination arc is beginning to make its mark, bending toward efficacy. Alas, more Americans are fully vaccinated than there are confirmed cases, 31 million to 29 million as of Monday. Over 60 million Americans have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 31.3 million are fully vaccinated, according to a Centers for Disease Control issuance Monday. Andy Slavitt, a Biden official notes that 92 million doses have been administered, accounting for 18.1 percent of the U.S. population. On top of that, sexagenarians, such a me, and septuagenarians, 60% and 70%, respectively have received their first dose, as have 24% of all adults. Additionally, 30% of those over 65, 39% of those over 75, and 12% of all adults are fully vaccinated.

Happily, I am looking forward to Friday, which will mark the two-week benchmark of my having received my second shot. Time flies. Tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic. It will also be the anniversary of the NBA shutting down. That…was roughly 29 million cases and 520,000 American deaths ago. When viewed in that light, a year seems not nearly long enough to have wrought so much pain and suffering. And yet, that is precisely what has happened.

Here’s a quick summary, courtesy of Yahoo News.

Approximately 1 in 4 U.S. adults have been inoculated and 12 percent can now, the CDC suggests, resume some semblance of a normal social life. Here are some of the numbers emanating from the accelerating COVID-19 vaccination drive:

On a seven-day average, 2.2 million COVID-19 shots are now being administered daily

0 percent of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine included in the CDC’s numbers as of Sunday night.

44 percent of fully vaccinated U.S. adults, and about half of all adults, are anxious about re-entering normal life, according to soon-to-be published data from the American Psychological Association

25.8 percent of New Mexico's population has gotten at least one vaccine dose

15.8 percent of Alaska's population is fully vaccinated

13.3 percent of Georgia's population has gotten at least one vaccine dose

6.6 percent of Utah's population is fully vaccinated

100 percent of K-12 teachers are eligible to get vaccinated in the U.S. as of Monday — "though the situation is more straightforward in some states than others," The New York Times notes

312 million doses (at least) have been administered worldwide in 116 countries, according to Bloomberg's tally.

Virginia Tech epidemiologist Lisa M. Lee tells The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. is making steady progress in its vaccination drive. However, logistics continue to be the primary hurdle, “everything from secure and simple registration systems to directing traffic at large vaccination events.”

Logistics aside, states opening up fully and prematurely are a critical problem that threatens to stem progress, spur calamitous super spreader events, and possibly even reverse the aforementioned steady progress. Therefore, I enthusiastically urge any and everyone who cares about beating coronavirus to proceed with caution. The vaccine is doing its job. With the right amount of patience, we just might beat this thing. ”Vaccinations Surpass COVID-19 Cases: A Stat With Which More of Us Can Live!"

I’m done; holla back!

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