COVID-19 Update

World

New Cases:    825,208 (⬆︎ .58%)
New Deaths:     13,947 (⬆︎ .46%)

USA

New Cases:    60,317 (⬆︎ .19%)
New Deaths:        883 (⬆︎ .15%)

Vaccination Scorecard

Total Vaccinations:           133.3 million (⬆︎ %)
Total Eligible Population:   49.9%
Total Population:                40.1%

We are the Stoopid Country

Axios:

The U.S. is approaching the vaccine hesitancy "tipping point"

When will you opt to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it is available to you?

(among those who have not received the vaccine yet)

The U.S. will probably run out of adults who are enthusiastic about getting vaccinated within the next two to four weeks, according to a KFF analysis published yesterday.

Between the lines: Vaccine hesitancy is rapidly approaching as our main impediment to herd immunity.

• "It appears we are quite close to the tipping point where demand for rather than supply of vaccines is our primary challenge," the authors write.
• "Federal, state, and local officials, and the private sector, will face the challenge of having to figure out how to increase willingness to get vaccinated among those still on the fence, and ideally among the one-fifth of adults who have consistently said they would not get vaccinated or would do so only if required."

Related: Republicans who say they don't want to get the vaccine are becoming only more resistant, the Washington Post reports.

• "The further we go into the vaccination process, the more passionate the hesitancy is," Frank Luntz, a longtime GOP communications expert, said after a Zoom focus group session last weekend. "If you've refused to take the vaccine this long, it's going to be hard to switch you."
• Participants in the focus group said they were concerned by the prospect of booster shots, and most said they would want a fake vaccination card.

I'm tired of having to carry the extra load of babysitting and coddling people who first insist on staying ignorant, and then demand that I respect their arrogance - their "right" to fuck it all up for everybody.

I'll say it again - fuck 'em.