Young Americans Aren't Getting Vaccinated, Jeopardizing Covid-19 Fight
Source: WSJ
“It’s a problem because young people are out and about and social,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “They’re more likely to be interacting with more people than a 75-year-old” and could spread the virus if they aren’t vaccinated.
Some 38% of people ages 18 to 29 years received at least one vaccine dose, the lowest rate among any age group eligible to get immunized, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report late last month. The elderly had the highest vaccination rate, at 80%.
“I’m 18 and never really had any health problems,” said Wyatt Lutz, a student at Georgia Southern University studying physical education who said he doesn’t plan to get the Covid-19 vaccine. “I’m not too worried about it. It doesn’t really scare me.”
*snip*
“Young people make up a higher proportion of hospitalizations than they were earlier in this pandemic,” Mr. Wakana said. “If you’re a young person and thought to yourself, ‘I don’t need to get a vaccine,’ the Delta variant is a new reason to get vaccinated.”
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/young-americans-arent-getting-vaccinated-jeopardizing-covid-19-fight-11625995802
Ahh, the invincibility of youth
= new reply since forum marked as read
what are your grades like ........ ....and just think you will be around other kiddies and use them as experimental lab rats because apparently in your comment you just don't care...... ......just for giggles what do you think those parents think.....
but back when the vaccines first became available, the message that was pounded out over and over and over and over and over and over in the broadcast, print, and social media by CDC, by Fauci, and by almost every Health Department (state, County, municipal) was this -
"Young people aren't as susceptible to COVID-19 and won't get as sick" "Young people are only a small fraction of the hospitalizations and deaths" "Wait your turn and let the 75+, 65+, those with 'underlying conditions', hospital/nursing home/long-term care facility workers, first responders, front line workers, teachers, prison workers and prisoners, transit workers, miscellaneous essential workers go first" "Wait your turn if you're a healthy young person" "Be patient, we'll get to you (maybe by this summer) "
Many states used the "phased" approach since everyone was obviously dealing with a limited supply of vaccine early on thanks to TFG. So for example, PA's was this (often updated) -
And in Philly it was this (often updated) -
And so here we are. I expect a good chunk of them said - "Well then fuck it".
I followed both PA's and Philly's daily, then biweekly, then weekly pressers, literally for over a year until they finally started phasing those out a couple months ago.
I know I found myself getting pushed further and further down the priority list as other groups screamed and because I was "too young" (under 65 but still just a year shy of 60, so not some 25 year old although I have underlying conditions). And since I was retired, I wasn't in a profession that fit any of the categories, let alone in any position at all.
Granted, this also meant that I could "hide away" and not have the constant exposure. But I *knew* that "hiding away" is the antithesis of the behavior of the average young adult and also knew that they would be the most susceptible to catching it, notably being asymptomatic, AND SPREADING IT, regardless of whether they eventually became symptomatic and hospitalized or not.
It was the luck of the draw doing a what-the-hell check of some independent pharmacies in my area in early March to discover a few were being certified to give out the vaccines, and I could actually put my name on their waiting lists - despite having signed up literally days after the city opened sign-ups for the vaccine the last week of January.
I was able to get fully vaccinated by the 3rd week of April from one small pharmacy near me and I didn't even get an invite from the city for the first time (for a mass vaccination appointment opportunity) until a little over a week before I was due for my 2nd shot in April.
So IMHO, it's not all "ne'er do well" thinking from the young adults. Some of it I think is the reaction to the selfishness that was displayed early on in an effort to save the most vulnerable from dying, by doing extreme and often OTT downplaying of the risks to the young.