By Matt de Simone
The coronavirus still exists and the numbers don’t lie.
Last month, Botetourt County saw a significant rise in COVID-19 cases. Since then, cases dropped at the half the rate. What does this mean? It means Botetourt seems to be getting “vaxxed.”
In 2020, the U.S. Census listed the population of Botetourt County consisted of 33,596 people (+448 from the 2010 report). Last week, the VDH showed 66% (16,725 individuals) of Botetourt’s population being fully vaccinated, 70% having one dose, and 14% receiving the booster. Half of Botetourt County residents are fully vaccinated in the fight against COVID.
In rates by Virginian vaccination status, between January 7 and October 6 of this year, unvaccinated people developed COVID at a rate of 4.8 times that of fully vaccinated people and 2.3 times that of partially vaccinated people.
As of November 6, stats show that 5,357,084 Virginians have been fully vaccinated. Of these people, 1% have developed COVID, 0.035% have been hospitalized, and 0.0125% have died.
According to the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), comparing rates among the three groups (vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and unvaccinated) is a more accurate way to see how well the vaccine is working than looking at the proportion (percent) of COVID-19 cases that are unvaccinated. The proportion of COVID-19 cases will increase among vaccinated people as vaccination coverage (the percent of the population that is vaccinated) increases.
Vaccine effectiveness is how well the vaccine performs in the real world. It tells the VDH how much the risk of disease decreases among vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated people. The greater the risk of disease drops in the vaccinated group, the greater the vaccine effectiveness.
A COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection is when a person tests positive 14 days or more after their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine or a single dose of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine. A death associated with a vaccine breakthrough case must meet the COVID-19-associated mortality criteria.
Even when a vaccine is highly effective, a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated will still get COVID-19 if they are exposed to the virus.
- Because no vaccine is 100% effective, it is expected to see some fully vaccinated people get infected.
- In most cases, these people do not have symptoms or have only mild symptoms. These infections might also be shorter in duration.
- Breakthrough cases occur for all vaccine preventable conditions.
As of October 10, a census pulse survey revealed that 5.7% of Virginia’s population was still hesitant to receive the COVID vaccination. The top three reasons:
- General concern over side effects.
The Center of Disease Control (CDC) now recommends that children between the ages of 5-11 receive the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric COVID-19 vaccine—which results from the most intense safety monitoring of any vaccine in U.S. history.
People have received the vaccine and felt zero side effects. Some have felt like they had a 24-hour “bug” that results in flu-like symptoms. Soreness at the injection site, fever, headache, tiredness, and muscle pain are a few of the common results. The main thing: serious safety problems are extremely rare and long-term side effects related to the vaccine are unlikely.
- Mistrust of the government.
The narrative of “I don’t trust the government” holds some merit in different aspects of keeping America safe, but in the case of the COVID vaccine, numbers show that getting the vaccine decreases a person’s chances of falling ill.
- Mistrust of the vaccine overall, despite the numbers.
These numbers also lay the smackdown on individuals who don’t trust vaccines in general. (As if these folks haven’t received a vaccination of any sort in their lives.) These days, determining facts rests with an individual and not what the rivaling media outlets want them to believe.
Again, the numbers don’t lie. “Breaking through” is a lot tougher on a virus if a person is fully vaccinated.
For more information, visit https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/see-the-numbers/covid-19-in-virginia/.
