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The Delta Variant and The Fight To Get Americans Vaccinated


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©Bill Oxford


What is the Delta variant?


The Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2 was first identified by the CDC in December of 2020 in India. The variant spread rapidly and largely affected India and Great Britain. After the discovery of this variant, the CDC designated it as a “variant of great concern”. The Delta variant is 50% more transmissible than the first discovered variant (also known as the Alpha variant) found in the UK on December 18th, 2020 but so far there hasn't been enough research to prove that this variant can cause more severe illness.



Cases are high, vaccination rates are low


As of July 20th, 2021, the Delta variant makes up nearly 83% of all new reported Covid-19 cases in the US which is a massive increase from last week when the Delta variant was responsible for only 50% of all newly reported cases. In addition to this, the variant has also been reported in all 50 states. Hospitalization rates are similar to that of the Alpha variant, but unvaccinated people have higher rates of hospitalizations, complications, and higher mortality rates than those who are vaccinated.


Vaccination rates in the US are the lowest in rural and southern parts of the country. Florida, a southern state with low vaccination rates, has become responsible for 1 in 5 newly reported cases in the last week. According to the WHO, only 50% of the US population is vaccinated and 97% of hospitalizations are from unvaccinated people.



Politics and its influence on vaccination rates in the US


Since the very beginning, the vaccine itself has been heavily politicized by Democrats and Republicans(R). In a recent poll done by ABC News they found that 86% of Democrats had been fully vaccinated and only 45% of Republicans had been vaccinated, but why is this? Here are two of the biggest reasons:


Mainstream Media: In a study done by the Pew Research Center they found that 53% of Democrats (and those who lean Democrat) and 48% Republicans (and those who lean Republican) followed the newly developing pandemic on the news in 2020, but after the 2020 election, those numbers dropped down to just 47% for Democrats and 28% for Republicans. In this same study, the Pew Research Center found that by late June, 66% of Republicans felt that the pandemic was over-exaggerated and 34% of Democrats felt that the pandemic was being underrepresented. Adding to this, the Pew Research Center also found that by September of 2020, fewer than 43% of Republicans said that “media coverage of the pandemic was done very well” compared to the 81% of democrats that said, “media coverage of the pandemic was done very well”. With these numbers it shows one of the problems with mainstream media: it's biased. To elaborate, Networks like Fox News and Newsmax cater to a more conservative base while networks like CNN and MSNBC cater to a more liberal or left audience meaning not all information is shared in the same way.


Politics: After the 2020 election, politics became extremely divided. With this came a plethora of highly biased information. While some, like New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), or AOC, gained 23.7 million followers across all platforms and became very influential during the pandemic. Other politicians like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) and Former President Donald Trump (R) became banned from social media platforms for spreading misinformation. Before their banning from social media, both politicians had millions of followers and are incredibly influential within the Republican party.


Since the beginning of the vaccine rollout, Democrats have been openly supportive of the vaccine, with several influential politicians like President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, AOC, and Elizabeth Warren getting publicly vaccinated, along with the general public involvement in creating campaigns and slogans. On the other hand, Republicans have never had a clear message. Although some Republicans are in full support of vaccines and told their constituents that the vaccine is safe, others are sharing a more skeptical view on how the vaccines were made, how quickly they were available to the public, and if it is safe for our bodies.

In a study done by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Medical University of South Carolina, they found that “The per-capita rates of new COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 deaths were higher in states with Democrat governors in the first months of the pandemic last year, but became much higher in states with Republican governors by mid-summer and through 2020, possibly reflecting COVID-19 policy differences between GOP- and Democrat-led states,''. Policy has had a very important role in the pandemic, but politicians like Florida Governor Ron Desantis (R) continue to downplay the severity of this virus and its variants.


As of this week, more Republicans are advocating for vaccines. After a year of downplaying the severity of the virus, Fox New Opinion host Shawn Hannity is now backtracking and telling his viewers to “take COVID seriously. Enough people have died. We don’t need any more deaths. Research like crazy. Talk to your doctor” and continue with “ “It absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated.” and Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy even wrote a column saying “Six months into his administration, President Joe Biden should be applauded for making a huge dent in the COVID pandemic.”.


With more and more Republicans now coming forward, does this mean more Americans will get vaccinated?



What can you do to help?

  • Get vaccinated if you can

  • Stay informed

  • Wear your mask and follow safety mandates



Resources:


  • Katella, Kathy. “5 Things To Know About the Delta Variant.” Yale Medicine, Yale Medicine, 22 July 2021, www.yalemedicine.org/news/5-things-to-know-delta-variant-covid.

  • Anthes, Emily. “The Delta Variant: What Scientists Know.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 June 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/health/delta-variant-covid.html.

  • Lindsey Bever, Joel Achenbach. “What You Need to Know about the Highly Contagious Delta Variant.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 July 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/07/delta-variant-covid/.

  • Crist, Carolyn. “Delta Variant Now Accounts for 83% of U.S. Cases.” WebMD, WebMD, 20 July 2021, www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210720/delta-variant-now-accounts-for-83-of-us-covid-cases.

  • Person. “Delta Variant Most Dominant in U.S.: What to Know.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 9 July 2021, www.healthline.com/health-news/delta-variant-went-from-causing-10-to-over-50-of-covid-19-cases-what-happens-now#COVID-19-vaccines-still-effective-against-delta.

  • "A Timeline of COVID-19 Developments in 2020.” AJMC, www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-of-covid19-developments-in-2020.

  • “How America's Partisan Divide Over Pandemic Responses Played Out in the States.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 5 May 2021, www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-05-12/how-americas-partisan-divide-over-pandemic-responses-played-out-in-the-states.

  • Kempler, Carly, and JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. “As Cases Spread Across U.S. Last Year, Pattern Emerged Suggesting Link Between Governors' Party Affiliation and COVID-19 Case and Death Numbers.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 22 Mar. 2021, www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2021/as-cases-spread-across-us-last-year-pattern-emerged-suggesting-link-between-governors-party-affiliation-and-covid-19-case-and-death-numbers.html.

  • Amy Mitchell, Mark Jurkowitz. “Republicans' Views on COVID-19 Shifted over Course of 2020; Democrats' Hardly Budged.” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, 22 Feb. 2021, www.journalism.org/2021/02/22/republicans-views-on-covid-19-shifted-over-course-of-2020-democrats-hardly-budged/.

  • Graham, David A. “Suddenly, Conservatives Care About Vaccines.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 21 July 2021, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/fox-news-conservatives-vaccines-sean-hannity/619510/

  • “Tracking SARS-CoV-2 Variants.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/.


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