Data continues to come in on the Covid vaccines and the numbers show that they are highly effective at preventing serious disease and death. Now, if we can just get half of the country to accept these facts, we can save a lot more lives, reduce hospitalizations, and reduce the strain that this pandemic has put on our health care personnel.
Here’s some stats that recently came out that should be quite enlightening to those opposed to getting vaccinated:
- During the month of June, every person who died of Covid in the state of Maryland (130 people) was not vaccinated.
- In Louisiana, 97% of covid cases and deaths have been unvaccinated people.
- In New York City, over 98% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the city during the first 6 months of 2021 were in people who were not fully vaccinated.
- In Los Angeles County, nearly every new case is due to an unvaccinated person.
The numbers are similar throughout every state in the country. The CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky had a great quote when she held a press briefing last week: “There is a clear message that is coming through. This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
The major reasons for not getting vaccinated seem to be people that are anti-vaxxers, are distrustful of the government, are skeptical of the rapid approval process of the vaccines, and/or don’t believe it is a threat. This isn’t a small number of people, either. Only 56% of our population has received at least one dose. At this stage in the vaccination process, I have to assume most of those that are unvaccinated have access to the vaccines but have chosen not to get the shots.
Hopefully, this new data will sway many of the unvaccinated that are on the fence to get on board and get vaccinated. Either way, they are going to get vaccinated. It’s just a matter of how: by shot or by catching the disease.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Joe Baker, CFP®
Baker Asset Management, LLC
joebaker@bakerassetmanagement.com
