Unvaxxed Nation Wipe Out

The number of new COVID cases in Finland, as in many places, are rising as we enter the pandemic’s 4^th wave. Despite that, it feels like things are going well.

Or maybe it just feels that way personally for me, since I’m now fully vaccinated, and soon (two weeks after the second dose) can travel again outside Finland, at least to certain counties. Estonia is one place we might visit before summer is over.

Looking on the bright side, there have been only two COVID deaths in Finland in the past two weeks, only five for the entire month of July. Hospitalizations are still lower than at the beginning of the 2^nd wave. People are going to restaurants, theaters. In some sense, things seem to be getting better.

Especially compared to the US, the land of my birth, where it seems the whole country has gone bonkers, even if it has a decent full-vaccination rate of almost 50%. That is admittedly higher than Finland’s 31%. (One explanation for Finland’s lower rate is that, facing a shortage in the supply of vaccine, Finland spaced out the two doses 3 months apart, compared to 3 weeks in the States. There is a lag here in the everyone getting the second dose.)

I think Finland will catch up with the US soon. While doing a better job at vaccination at the outset, progress in US is now stalling. It’s clear why – right-wing politics. Of the 30 states that have administered vaccinations below the national rate (below 50%) all but four of voted for Donald Trump. All of the remaining 20 that have done better, vaccinating over half their populations, were Biden states. Nothing could be plainer. For many, failure to get vaccinated is a political act.

And there are consequences. Three states now account for 40% of all new COVID cases: Florida (48% vaccination rate), Texas (43%), Missouri (41%). Those states make up only 17% of the US population, so they are obviously are punching above their weight when it comes to helping the spread of the delta variant.

The consequences are also deadly. Unvaccinated Americans now account for some 97% of COVID deaths. That shows the vaccines are working. Vaccinated folks are much, much less likely to die from COVID. Given that fact, it’s baffling why anyone without genuine medical reasons would refuse a free, safe way to lower their risk of infection. Baffling, but these folks are, of course, powerless against the right-wing media machine that has been fueling vaccine skepticism. 

A host on Newsmax recently floated the idea that vaccines in general go against nature by preventing “a certain amount of people” from being wiped out, like that was a bad thing. It’s true, of course, that vaccines do that, but that’s the point of vaccines. We want them to stop nature from wiping people out.

Considering that the Americans being wiped out are predominately the unvaccinated -- you could say, predominately Trump-supporting conservatives -- you would think hosts on Newsmax and other right-wing outlets would want their prime target audience protected. Apparently, you would be wrong.

Self-destructive antivaccination fervor is nothing new.
Cartoon from the 1930s.