PRIME LIVING
Vaccination
FAQs
The year 2020 was the deadliest in American history. At the terrifying peak of the pandemic, people over 60 Eliz abeth years old represented 80% Morse Read of total COVID-19 deaths, wiping out almost an entire generation of beloved elders, mentors, and cultural icons. Life as we knew it came to a screeching halt. Miraculously, just one year after the world went into lockdown, US COVID-related hospitalization and death rates started dropping, vaccination rates went into overdrive, and public health and government officials started offering concrete messages of hope for a long-suffering population. By mid-March, one hundred million vaccinations had been administered, with the promise that all Americans over 16 years old who want a vaccination will be able to get one by the end of May – and by April 19 here on the South Coast. But these life-saving vaccines will be in a race against new variant strains of the virus, vaccine hesitancy within certain US populations, and public health safeguards like mask-wearing being dropped prematurely in certain parts of the country. The elusive goal of herd immunity will slip farther away again if we are faced with another surge of infections. We must keep our eyes on the prize of herd immunity until the virus is defeated.
Mother-and-child reunions Long-separated families and friends now have a glimpse of what life will be like post-pandemic. In early March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced its first guidelines for Americans who were fully vaccinated – the first time we were advised on what we could do, instead of what we could not do, as has been the case since the pandemic swept across the globe. A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their last vaccination – for example, after the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or two weeks after the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This is cause for relief for long-separated families and others
8
S ou th C oast P r ime T imes
M ay /J une 2021
suffering from a year of pandemic isolation. Vaccinated older adults can now visit indoors and unmasked with their unvaccinated adult children and grandchildren under certain circumstances, and vaccinated friends can now enjoy maskless indoor dinners with each other. But best of all, seeing as more than 70% of nursing home residents have now been vaccinated, they can now receive visitors, after a long year of isolation and loneliness.
Vaccinated older adults can now visit indoors and unmasked with their unvaccinated adult children and grandchildren under certain circumstances So why shouldn’t we fly? At first, the CDC did not ease up on air travel restrictions, which seemed to throw a wet blanket on plans for long-distance family reunions. But there was good reason for the initial hesitancy – the announcement was made on the cusp of Spring Break, when rowdy (and maskless) college partiers crowd southern beaches and fuel super-spreader infection outbreaks when they fly back to campuses across the country. Additionally, the new variant viruses from the UK, South Africa and Brazil, which are much more contagious and potentially more lethal, had become more detectable across the US. The CDC projects that by the end of April, the highlycontagious UK variant of the virus will become the predominant strain in the United States. That’s why it’s imperative to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, to avoid another
