Lauren Dempsey, MS in Biomedicine and Law, RN, FISM News
Data from an analysis conducted for The Washington Post’s The Health 202 by Cynthia Cox, vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, clearly indicates that the majority of COVID-19 deaths are now in vaccinated individuals. The analysis found that 58% of these deaths in August 2022 were vaccinated, an increase from 42% in February of this year.
Last year, President Joe Biden and top health experts promised “a winter of severe illness and death” for unvaccinated Americans, predicting an overwhelming surge in hospitalizations. The administration continued to push mass vaccination, promising “a pandemic for those who haven’t gotten a vaccination” and falsely and baselessly claiming that “If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized, you’re not going to be in an ICU unit, and you’re not going to die.”
Experts cite a number of reasons for the increase in vaccinated deaths, mainly the fact that vaccine efficacy wanes over time, new circulating strains, and immunocompromised groups have a higher risk of severe illness and death regardless of vaccination status. Cox told The Health 202 that “We can no longer say this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
However, the report doubles down on the supposed importance of vaccination and staying up to date on boosters, saying that vaccinated groups are still less likely to die from COVID-19 infection than unvaccinated when age is adjusted. The CDC has found that deaths remain the highest in individuals older than 65 and the lowest in those aged 18 and younger, who account for 0.1% of total deaths.
The agency continues to claim that all unvaccinated individuals are at significantly more risk of dying from COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated and boosted, highlighting the importance as other respiratory illnesses like the flu and RSV are circulating.
Although President Biden declared that “the pandemic is over” in a CBS ‘60 minutes’ interview, the administration just announced they will spend the next six weeks focused on a vaccine campaign to reach “seniors and the communities that were hardest hit by COVID-19 by making it even more convenient to get vaccinated and increasing awareness through paid media.”
The administration will also provide “$350 million for community health centers to expand locally-driven efforts to get more Americans their updated COVID-19 vaccines” and an additional “$125 million for efforts to get more older Americans and people with disabilities vaccinated, including through accessible vaccination clinics, in-home vaccinations, transportation, outreach, and education.”
This comes after the White House Coronavirus Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha asserted that all deaths from the virus can be prevented, but “we need everybody to step up.” Jha went on to say, “If folks get their updated vaccines and they get treated if they have a breakthrough infection, we can prevent essentially every COVID death in America,” Jha said, adding “that is a remarkable fact.”
Yet, the data suggests otherwise. Millions of Americans have been vaccinated and boosted, following the advice of healthcare experts and recommendations of their own primary care providers and still, 58% — more than half — of deaths are in vaccinated individuals. This is not a pandemic of the unvaccinated and if the vaccines worked the way the experts and pharmaceutical companies promised they did, it is safe to assume that these COVID deaths would have been prevented.
Jha’s remarks also contradict the fact that the available COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent transmission or infection of the virus. However, top health officials continue to recommend vaccination as the best preventative measure. Dr. Fauci said his final message to the American people is to “please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you’re eligible to protect yourself, your family, and your community,” urging to “do it as soon as possible.”