It apparently bears repeating: #TeamAFP is fully vaccinated, has been since the spring, when we first shared that news with you.
We’re not expecting a cake and balloons.
This shouldn’t even be a big deal, but apparently it is.
For us, this wasn’t even something we debated. In fact, in my case, I had to clear it with my doctors, because I was recovering from an unrelated issue stemming from a blood clot.
My clearance came my way on April 26; a day later, I got my first jab, and three weeks later, the second.
No issues for me. My arm didn’t even get sore, either time.
I wasn’t rendered impotent.
As far as I know, the government isn’t any more able to track me than it already was because I carry a mobile phone with me everywhere.
So, when I tell you that, if you’re not vaccinated, you need to be, I’m not telling you to do something that I didn’t do myself.
In my case, the decision came down to a couple of things.
The main one being, I want life to get back to normal ASAP, and this is the way to do it, for everybody to get vaccinated.
Looking at numbers from the Virginia Department of Health, 5.3 million Virginians are now fully vaccinated.
Among those, we’ve had 35,045 breakthrough cases, less than 1 percent – actually, 0.7 percent – of the total.
That’s over nine months.
Over those same nine months, we’re just under 150,000 cases among those who aren’t vaccinated.
Doing the math: 4.6 percent of unvaccinated Virginians have developed COVID.
Basically, we can do one of two things: get vaccinated, or keep passing it back and forth to each other.
Sounds like fun, this going on ‘til the end of time.
The second, much less significant consideration, for me, was, I don’t want to get sick any more than anybody else does.
Being sick … sucks.
The numbers from VDH are suggesting that the vaccines are even more effective than advertised in that respect. I seem to remember us being told that they’d be around 95 percent effective, and thinking, OK, that’s BS, no vaccine is ever going to be close to that effective.
But over nine months, they’ve been 99.3 percent effective, from looking at the VDH data, which ain’t bad.
I’ll take a 99.3 percent chance of not getting sick any day of the week, twice on Sunday, et cetera.
Because that’s also a 99.3 percent chance that I don’t have to tell friends, families, people in the press box at Scott Stadium, that I tested positive, so they might want to get checked out.
I guess that one is a reason number three.
Looking out for other people.
If I do what I can to make sure I don’t get COVID, then I can’t give you COVID.
And I don’t even know you, and I care that much.
When I look at the VDH numbers, we’re not doing that well. The 5.3 million Virginians fully vaccinated represents 62.2 percent of everybody, which is well below the 75 percent threshold that public health types are targeting, and we’ve been stalled in the low 60s for a few weeks now.
We need 1.1 million more people to get vaccinated statewide to get to 75 percent.
That’s equivalent to the population of Fairfax County, if you’re wondering.
Or, roughly as many people as live in the communities along I-81 on your drive from Winchester down to Bristol.
In other words, a lot of dang people.
Closer to home for me, Waynesboro is at 55.2 percent, Augusta County at 55.4 percent, Staunton at 59.2 percent.
My math tells me we’re at right around 66,000 folks in our area fully vaccinated, and are another 26,000 away from getting to 75 percent.
Twenty-six thousand is bigger than the population of either of the two cities, for reference.
Nobody likes having to wear masks, having restaurants and stores closed, any of what the last year and a half has been.
Get vaccinated, so we can all get on with things.
Story by Chris Graham
Share
Contributors
