COVID-19 has run rampant on the entire planet for over 1 year and unfortunately, the end is not approaching as quickly as possible, due to a large portion of the population refusing to not receive one of the three vaccines approved by the FDA. Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson all have different vaccines with different levels of effectiveness, all three vaccines almost entirely eliminate the possibility of hospitalization and death.
The virus has been a terminal or life-changing illness for many with over 600 thousand people dying in the United States alone and thousands more who will forever feel the effects of the virus according to The New York Times. Just as recently as Jan, of 2021 there were days where over 4,000 people would die in the U.S.
Thanks to the rollout of the vaccine beginning in late 2020 and accelerating after the new Biden/Harris administration took office, there has been a sharp decline in COVID-19 related deaths; on July 18, 2021, 37 lives were taken due to COVID-19 compared to 2,625 lives lost six months ago on Feb 18, 2021.
When looking at the percentage of vaccinated population by state, there are two obvious trends; the first is states with higher vaccinated populations have fewer deaths caused by COVID-19, the other is conservative states, for the most part, ranked at the bottom of vaccinated populations while liberal states ranked toward the top, according to Becker’s Hospital Review.
Of the top ten vaccinated states, nine have Democratic governors and of the bottom, ten vaccinated states all had Republican governors. This correlates with deaths as well; Massachusetts which has the second-highest vaccinated population had a seven-day death average of one compared to ten for Georgia, which is ranked number 45 according to Becker’s hospital review.
While COVID-19 deaths decreased drastically in the United States from around 4,000 a day in January to around 40 a day in early July only to see a 145 percent increase in the past two weeks — July 5-19.
it is still important for Americans and other countries to quickly increase their vaccination rate. COVID-19 has been mutating rapidly over the last year-plus with the latest variant being the most contagious variant yet. The first case of the new delta variant was first diagnosed in the U.S in March, the variant now makes up more than 50 percent of all new COVID-19 cases in the U.S according to Healthline.
With low vaccination rates, the strain of coronavirus will continue to mutate and kill more people. In the state of Missouri where their vaccination rate is only 40.26 percent, new COVID-19 cases have doubled in the last two weeks; comparing Missouri to Vermont with a 67.7 percent vaccination rate, in the same time Vermont has reported only 32 new coronavirus cases according to Healthline.
If vaccination rates in conservative states continue to stay low, not only will there continue to be much higher COVID-19 infection levels in those states, the virus will continue to mutate which could impact the effectiveness of the different vaccines making it extremely difficult to reach herd immunity.
Written by Jaylen Conwell
Sources:
Becker’s Hospital Review: States ranked by percentage of population fully vaccinated: July 19; by Katie Adams
The New York Times: Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count
Healthline: Here’s How Well COVID-19 Vaccines Work Against the Delta Variant
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Felton Davis’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Latvijas armija’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
