Vaccination begins – Evening statistics
A short entry for today, for there was little noteworthy, either privately or publicly. The vaccine is now in the initial stages of distribution, but it will be a while before it becomes generally available. Supplies are limited; it appears that there are less than 7,000 for Washington, DC; and of course the health care professionals have priority, since they come in contact with infected people on a daily basis. Presumably other vaccines will be approved within the next several months or even weeks as well; but I do not anticipate a vaccine being available for general use until the spring.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 72,084,888; # of deaths worldwide: 1,610,771; # of cases U.S.: 16,544,568; # of deaths; U.S.: 305,051. I have been focusing on American statistics in this journal, but in purely global terms this pandemic is one of the more notable ones. Nearly 1% of the entire world’s population has been infected by now. The overall mortality is 2.2% (our rate is a little below the average), which is why the virus has claimed more than 1½ million lives worldwide to date. In actual numbers this pandemic has one of the largest death tolls, although as a percentage of the global population it is relatively modest at this point. It certainly is one of the most widespread. The Plague of Justinian (especially when taking all of the subsequent outbreaks into account) and the Black Death had far greater death tallies, but they were also more localized, being mainly in Europe. Pandemics that range over all continents are fairly rare, at any rate until recent times. The pandemics from the past with comparable ranges include: 1) the influenza epidemic of 1847-48 (death toll unknown); 2) the plague pandemic that began in 1855 and continued for a century (death toll 12 million, but the effects of this disease were concentrated in China and India); 3) the influenza epidemic of 1889-90 (death toll 1 million); 4) the encephalitis lethargica epidemic of 1915-26 (death toll 1.5 million); 5) the “Spanish flu” epidemic of 1918-1920 (death toll at least 17 million and perhaps as much as 100 million) 6) the “Asian flu” epidemic of 1957-58 (death toll between 1 and 4 million); 7) the “Hong Kong” flu of 1968-70 (death toll 1-4 million, but again the concentration was mainly in the Far East). It is impossible to tell what the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will be, but there is no doubt that it is a major historical event.It is impossible to tell what the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will be, but there is no doubt that it is a major historical event.