The Delta variant is here. There are no cases in Milam County yet but there are cases in Williamson County, right next door, so it’s only a matter of time. If you are fully vaccinated you are probably going to be OK, but if you aren’t vaccinated it’s coming for you.
The numbers are shocking. COVID deaths are now 99.2% unvaccinated people, and are, at this point, entirely preventable because of the effectiveness of the vaccines.
The Delta variant is the most highly transmissible of all COVID variants and it is the variant that has decimated India causing more than 400,000 deaths in a short time. It is 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant. It also spreads faster than any COVID variant. Up to 50% faster. And it spreads 75% faster than the original COVID virus which has caused the deaths of 605,000 people so far in the US.
Even if you’ve only had one of your vaccines so far you are going to fare better when the Delta variant arrives than someone who hasn’t received either.
So with these facts presented what would be the reason for not getting vaccinated? There are many reasons but they basically all boil down to a lack of trust in the vaccine and being afraid of side effects.
The virus was also politicized early on which is a shame. You need only look at the vaccination rates among Republicans verses Democrats to see how that played out. Nearly 30% of Republicans say they will not get vaccinated compared to 5% of Democrats. And we have our politicians to thank for that discrepancy. Politics is seriously undermining this country’s vaccination efforts.
Conspiracy theories and misinformation have also played a part in reluctance to get vaccinated from the very beginning of the pandemic. Remember the nurse who claimed the vaccine made her magnetic? That’s already been debunked by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, yet people will still believe it.
And then there’s the conspiracy theory that the vaccination would include a microchip to track your every move, like you don’t carry a cell phone with you every day that can track your every move.
The Delta variant is coming and it’s going to happen very quickly once it starts spreading in Milam County. The Rockdale Reporter urges you to get vaccinated as soon as possible because we don’t want anyone missing when this is all finally over.
—K.W.C.
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