The Delta Blues is at least pushing up the vax rates/percentages, but the trailing states are still way behind where they should be, and will possibly drag the rest of us down. The South is a storm anchor when we need more steerage way:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... delta.html
"After weeks of stagnation, the United States vaccination campaign has had a relatively successful month, with vaccine uptake rising from early-summer lows in every state in the country.
The upswing in vaccinations has come alongside an extended, and much more pronounced, increase in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States over the past two months. Public health officials say that in their communities, residents have been driven to get the vaccine by worries that the more-transmissible Delta variant might make them, or their loved ones, sick.
“The reason why we’ve seen the marked increase in demand is fear, it’s the Delta variant,” said Robert Ator, the retired National Guard colonel who runs Arkansas’ vaccination effort.
The increase in vaccinations has been especially pronounced in states where immunization levels were (and remain) below the national average of 61 percent. Many of those states have felt the effects of the Delta-led fourth wave most acutely.
[Graphic I cannot reproduce here]
Public health officials said that some areas with lower vaccine coverage, especially rural ones, just hadn’t been severely affected by the virus until the Delta surge.
“Some communities are seeing Covid close up now,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. “They’ve seen it on the news, but that’s not the same as seeing it close up.”
That proximity is driving behavior change across the country.
“The virus is coming to visit these communities and they are starting to feel the pinch,” said Colonel Ator. “When they start seeing their friends and families being affected by this, then it becomes a reality.”
States that have seen larger increases in new cases since their early-summer nadirs, such as Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, tend to be those with bigger increases in new vaccinations.
[Graphic I cannot reproduce here]
Some of the recent rise in immunizations is due to teens and tweens who are heading back to school, but the bulk of the increase is from working-age Americans, public health officials say and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms.
And while new vaccinations may be flattening now overall in the U.S., health officials do not expect them to return to previous lows any time soon, especially after the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine on Monday. That move is likely to spur new vaccinations, in ways both direct — 31 percent of unvaccinated people surveyed in a June poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicated they would be more open to getting the jab once a vaccine was fully approved — and indirect, as it sets the stage for new vaccine requirements by organizations including corporations, hospitals and colleges.
While the uptick in new vaccinations — first doses — has been the subject of particular interest, total vaccine doses, comprising first and second jabs, have been on the rise as well. They will likely continue to increase as third doses complicate the picture.
The F.D.A. this month opened eligibility for third shots for some people with weakened immune systems. And last week, the Biden administration strongly recommended that Americans who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna coronavirus vaccines get a booster shot eight months after their second vaccine dose. If the F.D.A. approves that recommendation, boosters will be available starting in late September.
However, there is evidence that about 1.2 million people in the U.S. may have already received unauthorized additional doses before these announcements were made, according to the C.D.C.
Note: Not all states had hit their lowest weekly vaccinations in early June, when Delta was on the verge of becoming dominant, and some only had mild growth in late July and August. As a result, these states may show a decrease in vaccinations in this analysis.
After watching worries about the Delta variant drive up vaccinations across the U.S., some state officials say they are adjusting their messaging to focus on the stories of people who have experienced Covid-19 illness or death firsthand.
North Dakota is developing an “Impact Wall,” a website with a collection of videos and photos from those who have been sick or lost a loved one.
And Arkansas has produced a televised public service announcement featuring a pregnant woman who had a near-death experience with Covid. In the video, she and her husband encourage Arkansans to get vaccinated.
“We have a rural couple talking to small rural communities,” Colonel Ator said. “Instead of a guy wearing a tie, I would much rather have the locals talking to them.”
