Tuesday, March 9, 2021

10 percent done, just 60 percent to go

I realize that I have been holding my breath, figuratively, for almost a year, in fear of hearing that a loved one has developed COVID, in fear that they might die.
That is no way to live, but my mind is stuck on that scenario playing out.
Now, I breathe a sigh of relief every time I find out someone I know has received the vaccine...
then I find out they think they've received a virus-killing cloak that will shield them and make them impervious to harm.
Sigh.
They're ready to go paint the town red, hoping from bar to bar!
Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all!!!
It doesn't help that the looney toons that run the new Plant Riverside District are planning a big party, hoping for beer-guzzling guests galore, whether local or not, come one, come all and let's have a good ol' fashioned superspreader event!
It's not even like the numbers of new infections has gotten to zero.
Not hardly.
I caught the news yesterday and here's the scary sight that awaited.
Almost 1500 new cases per day for seven of the last ten days.
And yet, folks are ready to take a break from the pandemic, put on some green beaded necklaces and a shamrock pin and pretend it's 2019 again.
Oh, I wish I could...
but backward in time is not the direction allowed in this universe.
We can only move forward, ever forward, in a world still staggering through a pandemic.
Sigh.
Here I wait for my turn to receive one of the three vaccines approved for emergency use by the FDA, sighing in relief every time someone I know steps up and gets their series of shots - more and more often because someone who had an appointment welshed on it, leaving a dose of life-saving vaccine to be thrown out if not placed into a willing arm.
Sigh.
The next thing I know, the newly inoculated one starts making plans to do this and do that and forget about the mask and hey, let's have a big party!
Honestly, do these vaccines not come with reading material so the one with the shot in the arm has a clue what it means for them?
Either no reading matter is given or no time is taken to read it.
Almost unanimously, the inoculated one believes the vaccine kills the coronavirus.
Sigh.
So, I explain as Dr. Fauci did at the Town Hall Zoom last week that the vaccine prevents the person from developing COVID - COronaVirus Infectious Disease - if they become infected by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus.
Period.
That's the whole point of the vaccine: to keep the inoculated one from developing the life-threatening disease.
Period.
The vaccine does NOT kill the virus, nor does it keep the inoculated person from spreading the virus to people who have not yet had the vaccine.
The vaccine keeps the inoculated one from developing the life-threatening disease.
Period.
Moreover, those inoculated need to wait a minimum of 14 days, and preferably 28 days, to allow their body time to build up a good supply of the antibody needed to prevent the disease from occurring. 
That means no carousing with hooligans, doing Jello shots and whatnot, immediately after that second vaccination takes place.
The inoculated one needs to wait at least two weeks - there's that number again - for their body to manufacture what's needed from the instructions in the vaccine molecules.
The inoculated one needs to eat plenty of protein - to give their body plenty of amino acids to build with - as well as get plenty of sleep, as that is when the body is able to build complex molecules without the boy's owner interfering.
Seriously.
Meanwhile, the inoculated one still needs to follow the Three W's: Wear their mask, Watch their distance, Wash their hands.
The CDC has posted new guidelines for those who have been fully vaccinated, guidelines which allow those so inoculated to gather in groups with others who have received the full vaccine series.
To date, the United States has thirty-four million people who fit that description.
That's roughly ten percent of the population.
To reach herd immunity status, at least seventy percent of the population needs to be fully vaccinated.
That means we have another sixty percent of the American population that needs to be rendered immune from COVID.
Roughly, that's another two hundred million people that need to step up for the good of this country and the good of the world to get vaccinated.
I'm ready to do my part...
can I please get an appointment for the vaccine?

1 comment:

faustina said...

Heaven help me, I was just doing math again and it freaked me out.
As I recall, vaccinations began about mid-January.
Right?
And now, it's the second week in March.
That's about 34 million people fully vaccinated in two months.
Six times that many people still need to be done for herd immunity to kick in and grant a reprieve.
So, 6 groups of people X 2 months to get 'em done = 12 months.
That would mean A YEAR to hit herd immunity.
That would mean March of 2022...
that's truly a scary thought.
I know Pooler is going to have a drive-through mass vaccination center sometime next week, with folks at Gulfstream able to inoculate 1000 people per day, Monday through Friday, 8 AM until 5 PM.
That would be 5000 per week, if they're fully utilized.
Other mass vaccination centers are being set up, too, though I don't know where or when.
I only know the one that Mayor Van Johnson talked about in his address on Tuesday morning.
The one in Pooler will be the closest one for us in Savannah.
I sure hope it works out.