As vaccination rates slowly increase and as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly around the world, it might be worth reviewing where we are.
Globally, somewhat over 40% of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19. The reality is that huge disparities exist. So while many developed countries have vaccination rates approaching or exceeding 80%, many other countries are barely into the double digits.
Some statistics on deaths caught my attention.
In the USA, there have been around 810,000 deaths from this virus in a population of 330 million. That can be more helpfully expressed as 1 death in every 407 Americans. Remember that ratio: 1 in 407. Notable is the fact that only around 60% of the whole population has been fully vaccinated.
It's worth pointing out that there are several states with populations close to 800,000. Deaths in the USA from this virus mean that the total population of states like North or South Dakota have just disappeared. Alaska would be home to only bears and wolves. Imagine traveling through those states and not encountering a single other living person.
In the UK, there have been 146,000 deaths in a population of 65 million. That's 1 death in 445. About 70% are fully vaccinated.
In Canada, we have recorded almost 30,000 deaths in a population of 38 million. That's 1 death in 1260. About 78% of our total population has been vaccinated.
This chart is from the EU, but it certainly shows a relationship between vaccination rates and deaths.
That means, in round numbers, that the US and the UK have had a rate of death that is 3 times what we've had in Canada. Part of that can likely be explained by the vaccination rate differences, since vaccines have been available for almost a year, but not all. Part of the difference can likely be attributed to differences in political leadership. We know where the USA was in the early months of the pandemic, with the Commander in Chief dismissing the virus as trivial and showing little leadership in any aspect of the pandemic.
There was Operation Warp Speed, where the President did throw a good deal of money at facilitating vaccine development. Despite this apparent support, many Trump supporters still refuse vaccines with many of them ending up in the hospital still denying that could be infected with the virus.
I'd attribute some of the speed of vaccine development to the virus itself. When vaccine developers started recruiting volunteers for their different trials, they were inundated with volunteers. Apparently it can be difficult to find enough people to participate in drug trials. Not this time.
As well, the sheer amount of virus circulating simply meant that results came in far, far faster than normal. The usual practice is to administer the drug/vaccine and wait for data to come in. This can take years. Not this time.
In Canada, at least in the beginning, ALL levels of government were singing from the same song book. Admittedly, in the beginning, there were challenges getting enough vaccine doses to really get our inoculation program off the ground. This can partly be blamed on decisions made years ago that dismantled our domestic vaccine development capacity.
The harmonious approach in Canada didn't really last all that long. Once vaccines started rolling out, large pockets of resistance appeared. Public Health Orders were the subject of protests. So, rather than uniting against a virus, some chose to flail against wearing a simple face mask.
And then there were the anti-vaxxers and other conspiracy nitwits ....
As time wore on, certain provinces descended into semi-chaos, with hospitalizations far exceeding the national average. I'm thinking here of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Three fine, Conservative, provinces where political "leaders" seemed unable to convince their base that certain simple practices were really in their best interests. The numbers told the story.
So where are we today?
Tracking Coronavirus Vaccinations Around the World
Daily deaths from COVID in the USA are still hovering around 1000. Omicron is spreading around the world, literally at jet speed. Total vaccinations are slowly inching upwards but not nearly fast enough.
And too many people are protesting against doing anything to improve the situation.
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