The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 89 (589)

I thought I'd start today with a question, probably a rhetorical one, but certainly one I wonder about. At what point will "fully vaccinated" switch from being two doses of Moderna/Pfizer or one dose of Johnson & Johnson to being the previously stated doses plus a booster? It's similar to wondering when a percent of people vaccinated is given what is the denominator in that percent? Total population? Eligible population? Residents only? I prefer when that is specified which is not at all always.

The FDA is discussing whether vaccines are suitable for children between the ages of five and 11. According to Dr. Fauci if a vaccine for that age range is approved this week, they could start going into arms the first or second week of November which to my mind is as early as next week. The Pfizer vaccine is supposed to be 90.7 percent effective against symptomatic disease in children of that age range. If my kids were still that young, I'd have them in line as soon as I could get them there. That said, I know that there are many parents who plan to wait or who plan to sit this one out totally.

Meanwhile, China is getting ready to vaccinate children as young as three, and those vaccinations will be mandatory. Right now, 76 percent of the Chinese population is fully vaccinated, which means 1.07 billion people out of a total 1.4 billion people. China is still attempting to eliminate any cases that arise. The northwestern province of Gansu has been closed due to covid's appearance there. All the tourist sites have been closed, not a good thing when the province depends heavily on the income generated by tourism. Marathons scheduled for Beijing and Wuhan have been postponed. Particularly with the Olympics looming, China wants as little covid as possible come February.

About four percent of public school employees in New York City did not comply with the vaccine mandate, and at least 150 state police officers have left. If those police officers don't mind moving, Florida is offering $5,000 sign-on bonuses to police officers who leave other cities rather than get vaccinated. Most vaccine holdouts say that their opposition to the vaccines is rooted in fear or a deeply held personal conviction. Right now, 21 percent of eligible adults have not gotten any vaccine. If that percent holds, we may be kissing herd immunity of a desired level good-bye. 

Covid cases and deaths in the US have been declining since September. In early September, the average number of new cases was in the neighborhood of 160,000. On October 20, the average was down to 76,000, a 54 percent decrease. The seven-day average number of deaths also decreased, by 26 percent. An infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University says that with continued vaccination the US could move from pandemic to endemic in which the virus remains in the community much as influenza does. If this were to happen, people at higher risk due to age or underlying condition(s) may find themselves conducting personal risk assessments. For a sporting event, this might be viewing it in person in a crowd or on TV at home. Once the decision to attend has been made, there is the decision about wearing a mask. Says the expert, "People are exhausted by this. The complacency in society is totally understandable, and there are only so many times you can tell people: 'The virus doesn't care.'"

I do not know if this will put his job in jeopardy, but Fox News host Neil Cavuto, who is immunocompromised, is on record as saying, "My God, stop the politics. Life is too short to be an ass. Life is way too short to be ignorant of the promise of something that is helping people worldwide. Stop the deaths, stop the suffering, please get vaccinated, please."

Always be yourself, unless you can be a Viking. Then always be a Viking. Just don't be an ass.