An unusual warning – Rising vaccination rate – Two vaccine skeptics – Evening statistics
The FDA has been forced to issue a warning that to most people would seem absurdly unnecessary but which, sadly, is not. The same people who turn up their noses at vaccines have no hesitation in resorting to other medical treatments that are thoroughly ineffective at best and positively harmful in most cases. We have already seen an example of this earlier, when several rushed, at Trump’s urging, to use hydroxochloroquine as a preventative. But they, at least, had the excuse that no vaccines were available at the time. Recently there have been accounts of people medicating themselves with ivermectin. Ivermectin is used to treat parasites in animals and is given primarily to horses, cows, and sheep. In carefully controlled doses it can be used to treat intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms. It is not, however, an anti-viral drug, so it does not have the slightest effect as far as the COVID virus is concerned. But it does have certain other consequences. Even approved doses have to be monitored carefully because they can interact with other medicines, such as blood thinners, and not at all favorably. In doses intended for horses and cows – which, of course, weigh much more than humans – it can become toxic, inducing rash, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, neurologic disorders, and, on occasion, severe hepatitis.
However, the vaccination rate is rising. Over a million people received the vaccine for three consecutive days. More than 60% of all people aged 12 and older are now fully vaccinated. Unquestionably it is time: at this point more than 11.5% of the population has tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. Our mortality rate is relatively low – 1.7% cumulatively and considerably less than that in recent weeks. But we have already lost nearly 645,000, more than the total population of cities such as Las Vegas and Detroit.
One prominent vaccine skeptic has succumbed to the virus. The radio host Phil Valentine tweeted In December, 2020: “I have a very low risk of A) Getting COVID and B) dying of it if I do. Why would I risk getting a heart attack or paralysis by getting the vaccine?” As matters turned out, Valentine’s assessment was wrong on both counts: he contracted the disease less than a month ago, was soon hospitalized in a critical care unit as a result of pneumonia brought on by the virus, and died today. After he was taken to the hospital his family posted for his audiences a plea to get vaccinated on the radio station’s Facebook page.
But there is some encouraging news for the anti-vaxxers. At least one of them has been consistent from first to last. Pressley Stutts, a local Republican Party official in South Carolina, and his wife were rushed to a hospital on August 1st after being diagnosed with the virus. His wife had mild symptoms and was eventually released, but Stutts’ case was more serious, quickly causing him to be placed in an ICU. From there he routinely posted protests against vaccine mandates and mask mandates on his Facebook page, as well as denunciations of the vaccines generally, with assurances that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump thrown in for good measure. He might still be doing so if it were not for a trifling incident. His death on August 19th is the circumstance I allude to. Several residents in his state appear to be heeding the advice he delivered in this moribund condition; only 42% of South Carolina’s population is fully vaccinated, with the state recording an average of more than 3,500 cases a day and more than 1,600 people currently hospitalized.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 212,103,181; # of deaths worldwide: 4,435,512; # of cases U.S.: 38,519,247; # of deaths; U.S.: 644,838.