Question on Ivermectin

PVW posted this in another thread, but it belongs here too, because it blows up two of the big anti-vax talking points -- that the vaccinated are just as likely to spread COVID (they are not), and that getting vaccinated is purely a personal health decision (it isn't, is a public health decision).

No, Vaccinated People Are Not 'Just as Likely' to Spread the Coronavirus as Unvaccinated People

That’s why getting more people their shots is crucial for controlling the spread of the coronavirus: Every vaccinated person helps limit the virus’s ability to hide, replicate, and propagate.  

Among the unvaccinated, the virus travels unhindered on a highway with multiple off-ramps and refueling stations. In the vaccinated, it gets lost in a maze of dead-end streets and cul-de-sacs. Every so often, it pieces together an escape route, but in most scenarios, it finds itself cut off, and its journey ends. It can go no further.  

This is borne out by recent data from New York City that show that more than 96 percent of cases are among the unvaccinated. Only 0.33 percent of fully vaccinated New Yorkers have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

This is exactly why vaccine mandates are so important—and why going to events that exclude unvaccinated people is much, much safer than those that are open to all. Everyone knows that the vaccines help protect each individual who gets their shots. But when more people get vaccinated, this helps keep everyone else (including children and others ineligible for vaccination) safe as well.

ml1 said:

PVW posted this in another thread, but it belongs here too, because it blows up two of the big anti-vax talking points -- that the vaccinated are just as likely to spread COVID (they are not), and that getting vaccinated is purely a personal health decision (it isn't, is a public health decision).

That used to be undisputed, but not today with the nihilistic right-wingers who politicize everything.

Another example, in response to efforts to add Covid vaccines to the list of mandated vaccines, Florida Republicans are proposing to eliminate all vaccine requirements, even for long-standing programs that fight childhood diseases.

You can do comparisons of any two US locations at this site (by state, county, or comparison to United States total).  E.g., See Alabama's increasingly high death rate (last graph).

https://data.rgj.com/coronavirus-curve/new-jersey/34/alabama/01/

Are you sure that's not a graph of liberty levels? With apologies to Andrew Marvell -- the grave's a free and private place, none there need mask upon their face.

Counties vaccination rates vary within states (https://data.rgj.com/covid-19-vaccine-tracker/alabama/01/), and in almost all states I've looked at, low vax counties' death rates are exceeding high vax counties' death rates -- i.e., the vaccinations appear to be working as intended. (see e.g., 2 NJ counties and 2 Alabama counties as graphed by https://data.rgj.com/coronavirus-curve/somerset-county-nj/84034035/cumberland-county-nj/84034011/).