What’s more, is it possible that our myopic approach is outright counterproductive? Dr. Robert Redfield, former CDC director and now a senior advisor to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, said that 40 percent of the recent COVID deaths in the state of Maryland were among the fully vaccinated. It’s tough to know exactly what to make of that, but it surely isn’t encouraging, at minimum.
Even though there is some evidence that therapeutics like monoclonal antibodies can cut hospitalization and deaths up to 85 percent, the treatment is rarely discussed. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has established monoclonal antibody sites throughout the state, but he was originally criticized for doing so. At the Miami monoclonal antibody site, more than 60 percent of the patients receiving monoclonal antibodies are themselves fully vaccinated. If the goal is saving lives, shouldn’t we embrace an all-of-the-above approach like DeSantis has done in Florida?
The vaccine helps protect the vaccinated from dying, but it does not protect the vaccinated from either getting or spreading COVID. In other words, it seems clear to many of us that the vaccine is a personal health benefit, not a public health benefit. Therefore, whether to get vaccinated is a profoundly personal decision, not a public health decision. And not everyone is high-risk. There is a more than a thousand-fold difference in the risk of mortality between the old and young. The decision I am making as a healthy 36-year-old is different than the one Joe Biden should make as a 78-year-old. And low-risk Millennials like me comprise the largest generation in the broader U.S. labor force.
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