Winter of Discontent

There's a brand new COVID vaccine specifically aimed at Omicron and is effective against that family of strains, which are about as endless as variations of Vitamin B. It can help improve the quality of life in this country and do a lot to fight harmful pathogens in the air.

In that sense, it's like a compact EV.  It also has something else in common with a compact EV - not too many Americans want it. 😮 

Many Americans aren't aware that this new vaccine exists, and many of those that are don't want it.  They consider the benefits of getting this Omicron booster and they're like, "Enh!"  The only problem (and it's a big one) is that if not enough Americans get the new Omicron booster, we could have another big bad wave of COVID infections this winter.

"Could"? More like "will."

Dr. Anthony Fauci (remember him?) is afraid that the failure to vaccinate enough Americans could make it possible for a more contagious and more dangerous new strain to emerge this winter - maybe another Omicron strain but maybe this time a strain distinctive enough to warrant its own Greek letter . . . and the next one is Pi.

No, Alice, Pi! 

And if too few of us get the Omicron booster, America could very well get hit with a Pi in the face.

Well, O.K., Alice, I guess that makes the point . . . 

And this would indeed be funny if it weren't so serious . . . 

We could be in for a heap of trouble.  President Biden should never have said that the pandemic is over.  I wish he hadn't said that.  I'm sure he wishes he hadn't said that.  

Boosted

According to my earlier calculations, I would have had to wait until Christmas Eve to get a COVID booster shot.  Then the CDC declared that those of us who had the god sense to get a double dose of the vaccine could get a booster after six months.  So I did, this past Sunday - Halloween.

Eleven percent of Americans have gotten a booster shot, and I'm now one of them.  I feel a whole lot better, now that I've gotten the booster, and I am happy to report that my home county in New Jersey is down to a moderate level of transmission, even as much of New Jersey is still high. However, the seven-day average for the country is beginning to pick up again, just in time for the colder weather that's so favorable to respiratory viruses.  Most places even in heavily vaccinated New Jersey still require "FCs" (face coverings) even for those who can prove they've been fully vaccinated.  I've already long since decided that I will not go to any non-essential indoor public venues until the pandemic is over; given where we are with the virus, it may be a long time before I see the inside of a restaurant, museum or movie theater again. 😢     

I try to look at the bright side.  Despite the pathetic first-dose vaccination rate in These States, it's still inching up - okay, millimetering up, perhaps - and the increase in mandates may push it up even further in the coming weeks, even as children from age 5 to 11 are finally eligible for vaccination.  I keep hoping we get to the end game for this pandemic, and I hope it's in sight.

Right now I'm trying to tune out Michael Osterholm, who says it isn't.