AllTop Viral!

While the numbers of patients hospitalized for critical cases of COVID has dropped dramatically, those who are hospitalized tend to have one thing in common: they’re almost all unvaccinated. What’s worse, almost all COVID deaths are also among the unvaccinated.

Earlier this June, as many as 178 hospital workers in Houston were been suspended for refusing to be vaccinated. Now, 153 of them have either been fired or resigned instead of getting the vaccine. It is indeed alarming that healthcare workers would opt out, knowing that most serious cases and deaths are linked to lack of vaccination.

The global spread of “variants of concern” is worrying health officials. Variants that bypass the protection given by vaccines or previous illness may mean new surges of COVID. The world is thus in a race against time––get enough people vaccinated before variants spread or risk a new pandemic. So far, fortunately, at least the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is effective against variants, with research still pending on others––though initial results are very promising.

In Springfield, MO, for example,  there has been a 225% increase in hospitalizations since June 1, in large part thanks to the new Delta variant. The Delta variant, a more infectious variant of COVID-19, is infecting a rising number of people in rural Kansas and Missouri. The spread of the variant likely stems from the regions low vaccination rates.

More news.