BIDEN CALLS VACCINATIONS “THE MOST PATRIOTIC THING YOU CAN DO”

IN A HOLIDAY WEEKEND SPEECH THE PRESIDENT LAUDED PROGRESS AND URGED CAUTION. Speaking from the White House over July 4 weekend, President Biden urged the country to do its patriotic duty by getting vaccinated. Twenty states have reached the Biden administration’s goal of having at least 70 percent of adults at least partly vaccinated by July 4. New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington, DC have all surpassed the 70 percent goal; Florida is nearly there with 65 percent. While celebrating the progress we have made at vaccinating the country, the president added a note of caution, highlighting the danger the delta variant and other variants pose to the unvaccinated. The delta variant is particularly troubling because it can spread more than twice as fast as the earliest coronavirus strain and is currently causing the majority of new COVID-19 cases. Fortunately, the most effective thing you can do to protect yourself from the delta variant is get vaccinated. “America is coming back together,” said President Biden said, urging continued vigilance around vaccinations. “Do it now for yourself, for your loved ones, for your community and for your country,” Biden said.

The Delta variant is particularly troubling because it can spread more than twice as fast as the earliest coronavirus strain and is currently estimated to be causing at least 25 percent of new COVID-19 cases.

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DR. FAUCI CREDITS VACCINES FOR SAVING LIVES

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Biden Administration’s lead on infectious diseases, in June credited the COVID-19 vaccines with saving countless lives. According to Fauci, of the more than 18,000 who died in the United States in June from Covid-19, 99.2 percent were not vaccinated. Fauci called the deaths avoidable and preventable. “We in our country are very fortunate. We have enough vaccines to vaccinate essentially everybody. While no vaccine is perfect, it is clear that the vast majority of people who are hospitalized with or die from COVID- 19 at this point are those who have not been vaccinated.” In all the 1199 regions, we are doing well encouraging our friends, family, and co-workers to get vaccinated. But there are still plenty of people who are not vaccinated and at risk. We need to keep telling our stories about how the vaccine has allowed us to spend time with friends and family because it is safe, side effects are tolerable, and the risks of not being vaccinated are potentially deadly.

"While no vaccine is perfect, it is clear that the vast majority of people who are hospitalized with or die from COVID-19 at this point are those who have not been vaccinated."

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Q: If I am vaccinated, should I be worried about the delta variant?

A: You should be vigilant, but if you are vaccinated you have a much greater level of protection than unvaccinated people. The delta variant is worrisome because it is highly contagious and spreading rapidly around the globe. Unvaccinated people who are infected with delta are twice as likely to be hospitalized as those infected with alpha, the dominant variant in the United States that was first detected in Britain. But if you are among the vaccinated, most experts say you do not need to be fearful. Studies show that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine offer 88 percent protection against the delta variant, compared to 93 percent protection against alpha. The Moderna vaccine has performed similarly to Pfizer in other studies, so it’s expected to give a similar level of protection against delta. Johnson & Johnson’s single shot vaccine has also proven to be effective against the delta variant.