The vaccines are remarkably effective against death and severe disease on all timescales measured. What appears to decline is sterilizing immunity, meaning after 6-8months you may show symptoms if infected. It is unlikely boosters will be mandated for all.
And to be clear, this vaccine denial is a uniquely American problem. In Denmark over 80% of the eligible population is voluntarily vaccinated. They are now able to do away with virtually all Covid restrictions.
The American situation is very concerning. I suspect it is correlated with the high temperature of the American public discourse. Whenever we encounter a different opinion, we assume the worst and immediately reach for the flamethrower.
Not sure what to do about it, I caught myself doing it and I like to believe I am on-guard for this kind of behavior. I substantively edit my messages to remove first draft inflammatory words. Perhaps the old email advice: put it in drafts and send it tomorrow morning.
I've been thinking lately that even on HN having a 'parent upvoted your reply' signal might be an interesting experiment for promoting civil discourse.
Also existence of Denmark with high vax rates does not imply that the problem is uniquely American. To wit, Russia is even farther ahead in that regard. So no, it’s not uniquely American.
Russia has low vaccination rate problem ay least as much as America, therefore the problem of low vaccination rates is not uniquely American, it's a Russian problem too. Does that make sense?
Americans were lining up in the streets to get polio vaccine and were pissed when it was unavailable.
I think a whole lot of this angst boils down to society running well, due to this work in the past. Then people forget, believe it all works differently than it really does.
Now we are faced with a global problem, shared risks, shared resources and a whole lot of relearning to do.
And to be clear, this vaccine denial is a uniquely American problem. In Denmark over 80% of the eligible population is voluntarily vaccinated. They are now able to do away with virtually all Covid restrictions.