Completely different COVID vaccination charges can result in “Two Americas”

Jun 23, 2021 – Will COVID Vaccination Rate Differences Across Country Ultimately Divide America?

The highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus is on the rise in the US, leading the CDC to predict that this worrying strain will soon prevail.

This outlook leads to the question of whether areas of the country with lower vaccination rates might get worse results. And if so, could the inequality lead to “two Americas”?

“COVID-19 and its variants, including the Delta strain, will be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future,” David Hirschwerk, MD, an infectious disease expert at Northwell Health in Manhasset, NY, told Medscape.

“So far, so good,” adds Hirschwerk, speaking to research into the current effectiveness of vaccines against different strains of SARS-CoV-2. For those who have not been vaccinated, however, “it is a major concern because the variants currently in circulation are far more contagious and can make people much sicker.”

Theo Vos, MD, PhD, Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle, agrees.

“The Delta variant appears to be more contagious than its predecessor variants, and that means it may take less time for it to spread explosively, especially in populations with low vaccination densities,” he says.

Make differences clear?

Variants and differences in vaccination rates require vigilance, says Hirschwerk. “Hotspots are likely to occur in areas where vaccine uptake is delayed,” he warns.

When asked whether a “two America” scenario was possible, “there are clear patterns of less willingness in the Midwest and the Southwest”. [and] with a worse picture in rural zip codes, “says Vos.

Whether regional differences in vaccination rates lead directly to differences in morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 depends on several factors.

“Unfortunately, a low willingness to vaccinate is often accompanied by a lack of compliance with precautionary measures,” such as distance and masks, says Vos. “What partially mitigates this is that it is easier to spread in densely populated urban areas than in rural areas.”

Assessment of the risk

According to CDC data, an estimated 150 million American adults (45%) are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus as of June 11. But the rate remains lower in some states. For example, only 28% of Mississippi residents are fully vaccinated, 30% in Alabama, and 32% in Arkansas and Louisiana.

Although the vaccination rate is slightly higher in Missouri at 36%, that state is now reporting the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases. In fact, one in 1,349 people in Missouri were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the week of June 13-20. .

“There are several counties in Missouri that are seeing increases in COVID-19 activity, ”Missouri Department of Health communications director Lisa Cox told Medscape in an email.

The department is working with public health officials in affected counties and with the CDC to report variants and follow directions from authorities, says Cox.

In addition, government health agencies are working on more targeted efforts to encourage businesses, employers, schools, and churches to offer community-based vaccinations.

“We are also engaged in targeted and aggressive state public education efforts that encourage unvaccinated Missourians,” added Cox. “This is the ‘Show-Me State’ and the Missourians are skeptical.”

Protection of the unvaccinated

On the positive side, the higher the proportion of a vaccinated population, the lower the test-positive rate among the unvaccinated, as new evidence suggests.

Researchers in Israel found that the rate of positive tests in unvaccinated people decreased roughly twice for every 20% increase in the proportion of residents who were vaccinated. The researchers compared the rates in unvaccinated teenagers and children under the age of 16 with those in vaccinated people between the ages of 16 and 50.

“The more people vaccinated in a community, the better unvaccinated people in the same community are protected,” lead author Oren Milman told Medscape in an email.

“This protection is in addition to the high level of protection for the vaccinated themselves,” adds Milman, researcher at the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa.Israel.