According to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, at least 171 millon people in the United States have been fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Of these individuals, 2,063 (0.0012 percent, or about one in 83,000) are known to have later died while being infected. But even this extremely low number understates the protective value of vaccines, because more than 20 percent of these vaccinated individuals were asymptomatic upon their death. And notwithstanding sensationally reported anecdotes involving young vaccinated people succumbing to the disease, 87 percent of the fully vaccinated Americans who’ve died from COVID-19 were aged 65 or older. As a recent Heritage Foundation analysis showed, the average fully vaccinated American is more likely to die from drowning, being shot, or choking on food than from COVID-19.
We have all seen articles and videos that highlight the real and supposed dangers associated with COVID-19 vaccines. And it is true that, as with many life-saving medical products, there are potentially dangerous side-effects for some groups, including a risk of heart problems in young men who have received Pfizer or Moderna shots. But the latest data amalgamated from US hospitals shows that these risks are small, and that the available vaccines continue to provide robust protection against COVID-19, including its delta variant. Certainly, on balance, the vaccines are many orders of magnitude less dangerous than COVID-19 itself.
Read Full Article »