Yes, if you think beyond your 2 foot radius.
My parents live in Canada and both finally received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. They are scheduled to receive their second doses in July, 4 months, rather than 1 month, after the first shot. The policy in Canada is to give as many people the first dose as possible, delaying the second one by a few months more, the rationale being that getting more people vaccinated with one dose is better than fewer people with the full monty. Let’s be honest. They are doing this, not out of the goodness of their hearts or because of altruism, but because they bangled up their procurement of vaccine and they don’t have enough of it.
However, this policy of spreading out the doses to vaccinate more people is not all that preposterous or unique. It has in fact been used successfully in Britain, where the most common variant (B1.1.7) originated, and they are doing better than most European countries are right now.
The fact is that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both provide 80% efficacy after only one dose. Efficacy goes up to 90-95% after the second dose, given 3 and 4 weeks later. That’s how the studies were done but it’s not necessarily the only way the doses can be administered.
Thinking about the math very simply, if twice as many people got only one dose, twice as many people would have 80% protection. If half of those people got both doses, that half would improve their protection to 90-95% but the other half would have 0% protection. In other words, on average, the whole population is only 45% protected with both doses vs 80% protected with one dose. Makes sense, especially if you look at it from an unselfish, public health and global perspective. Had we adopted that policy a month ago, more literally millions of Americans who have no protection now, would have 80% protection.
As I mentioned in previous posts, on a global level, we are in the worst Covid state we have seen thus far. Although about 20% of Americans have been fully vaccinated, only 4% of the rest of the world is. Although the ~15% of Canadians who have received the vaccine have only gotten one dose, that is still 15% of the population with 80% protection.
80% of all the distributed vaccine has gone to only 10 countries and more than 30 have NONE!. In these poorer and less developed countries, the predominant strain is a variant, resistant strain. Most of the rest of the world in fact is getting ravaged by the variant strains. Every state in the US and most new cases here and in Canada are variant viruses.
Although our present vaccines are less effective against these variant strains, they are not completely ineffective. At least the vaccine slows down the original strain preventing the development of even more aggressive variants.
This pandemic MUST be addressed at a global level. We can’t just be preoccupied with ourselves. If we don’t, the waves will continue to come, one after another, indefinitely. We are onto wave #4 already.
PLEASE get vaccinated but remember that after vaccination, you still need to be careful. There is still a chance of getting infected, especially with the variant viruses, and you WILL pass them along to others. Once again, kids are just as likely to get infected with the variant viruses and pass them along as adults. Each of the vaccine companies now available for adults are conducting safety studies on kids, so it won’t be long before we can vaccinate every one.
In the meantime:
MASK
DISTANCE
WASH
DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE
VACCINATE
VENTILATE
WORK ON YOUR HEALTH, both physical and mental. I received some wonderful messages from friends last week who have started to really lean into a healthier, plant-based diet. They’ve lost weight and feel great. If you have questions about how to make changes, check out my website. My 8-page “tip sheet” is on the main page where I list some of my favorite resources.
Have a great Monday and upcoming week.
Stay safe and be well.
AC ✌️ 🌱