The whole point of the vaccines is that they work. Lots of people on both sides are pushing back.
The whole point of the vaccines is that they work. Lots of people on both sides are pushing back.
A s someone who at least attempts to think rationally, it’s been pretty disorienting to read the news in July 2021. Why is so much attention being paid to the irrationalists?
On the one hand, an irrational fear of vaccines may have caused a surge in infections in the South and south-adjacent areas such as Missouri and Oklahoma. On the other hand, an irrational fear of the Delta variant is causing people to lose their minds in blue states. “Apocalypse Now” read the headline of a Politico newsletter sent out on July 18.
Apocalypse? Now? I looked eagerly for an unexpected movie review, but didn’t find it. I didn’t find a joke or an ironic twist either. Politico would like us to believe that we’re in a state of apocalypse — defined as “the complete final destruction of the world” — based on a few unusual-weather anecdotes and the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
I feel pretty secure in predicting that, no, we’re not all going to die in 2021.
The vast majority of us will be fine. Because the vast majority of us are vaccinated: 69 percent of adults, including 90 percent of seniors, are at least partially vaccinated, and though most children are not vaccinated, children never had that much to worry about, excepting the ones with preexisting conditions. Many millions more adults have antibodies because they’ve been infected. If 75 or 80 percent of us are protected, COVID is simply not the same disease it was last winter, when it was killing thousands of people a day. The Delta variant is doomed to fizzle out in frustration, perhaps very soon. Figures from the last few days in the U.K. indicate that Delta may have already peaked there, suggesting the U.S. peak could arrive as early as next month, as former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb is saying.
Having trained at the New York Post, I certainly understand the tabloid imperative to hype things up to make the news a bit more exciting. But Politico is not supposed to aim for the lowest common denominator; it’s supposed to be the clued-in guide to what’s on the minds of the savviest insiders. Meanwhile, the Post is being sensible about the question of whether or not we’re all going to die this summer.
It’s the most highly educated people who are telling us to panic about the Delta variant, and they’re doing so by selective presentation of facts that amounts to misrepresenting the truth. I can’t tell whether the political-reporter class is deliberately overlooking the good news (driven, perhaps, by their loathing of the red states, which they feel obligated to bash at every opportunity) or whether they’re such naturally fearful and neurotic people that they’ve successfully scared themselves into thinking Deltapocalypse is upon us.
I’m a mushy-middler on the coronavirus. I think masks are annoying, but I don’t much mind wearing one to alleviate the fears of others for brief periods. I wouldn’t force people to get vaccinated, but I don’t mind if I’m asked to prove I’ve gotten my shots upon entering a theater. I got vaccinated as soon as I could, and so did everyone in my family, because the shots are miraculous and they’re safe.
As a coronavirus centrist, it’s strange to keep seeing, on the one hand, stories about people who brag about not getting vaccinated because they don’t fear the virus, and on the other, people who brag about fearing the virus even though they’ve been vaccinated.
“US in ‘another pivotal moment’ as Delta variant drives surge in Covid cases,” read a Guardian headline last week. “Delta’s Rapid Spread Clouds Summer With Fear of Covid Revival” read a Bloomberg headline on July 3.
What people should understand is that if you’re vaccinated, the pandemic is more or less over for you. If you’re not vaccinated, I feel sorry for you, but your life is not my problem. Nor do I feel the need to wear a mask all the time. I’ll do it if I have to, but it’s silly if I’m vaccinated. And it’s downright cruel to make small children wear masks, since they’re at almost no risk from the virus anyway, and little kids really do need to see each other’s faces to learn and develop.
“The national outlook is worsening quickly, with a fourfold increase in new cases per day over the last month,” reads a typical New York Times info graphic today. The Times has been engaged in similar fearmongering for the entire summer. So effective has the media’s irrational-fear campaign been that one-third of Americans believe the worst days of the pandemic are yet to come. No. The worst days were when we didn’t have the vaccines.
Meanwhile, the seven-day average of deaths is near the nadir, at 290. Hospitalizations are up over last month, but they’re still lower than they were in early May, when people were frisky and optimistic. Ninety-seven percent of those being hospitalized are unvaccinated. I feel bad for them as human beings, but their poor choices are no reason for me to be afraid. As for breakthrough infections — COVID cases among people who have gotten their shots — there will be some, but nearly everybody will experience no more than mild-to-moderate symptoms.
The whole point of the vaccines is that they work. I’m baffled why so many smart people can’t seem to grasp this. But whenever I depart New York City, it becomes pretty clear that the bulk of the country has no interest in living in a perpetual state of panic. People are out and about, doing normal summer things, hardly any of them wearing masks. The vast majority of adults have been vaccinated, and they’re not looking back.