Image by Egonetix_xyz from Pixabay
By L.M. Land
Recent Genesee County statistics show that few people have the most recent COVID bivalent booster shots.
Non-hispanic (NH) Black residents (population:1,374,892) have the lowest percentage of coverage at 9.6% of residents.
Despite how easy it has been to get the vaccine in Flint, only 44.3% of NH Blacks residents got the first vaccine.
NH Whites (pop. 7,464,667) have the highest rate of up-to-date vaccines at 16.6%. NH whites have a 55% coverage rate for the first vaccine.
Asian, Hispanic and Native American population in Genesee County have an up-to-date coverage rate between 16.6% and 9.6% (collective population of 920,623).
This mirrors the statistics maintained by The New York Times, which I have been following since the very beginning of the pandemic.
In the total population of the United States, 69% of all Americans got the first vaccines. For the age bracket of 65+, 95% got the first shots.
For the bivalent booster rates, only 17% of Americans have gotten it.
In the 65+ age group, 43% have the bivalent booster, illustrating the fact that seniors value the protection given. As told in a previous article, my 85 and 92-year-old parents have kept up to date with all vaccines and survived COVID in the form of a tough cold. \That spoke to me more than all the statistics in the world.
This summer COVID rates are rising, not enough yet for panic, but enough to become wary. This is why the low vaccine booster rate is worrying to health officials.
Based on the CDC data, for the week ending July 15, 2023, hospitalizations jumped 10% to more than 7,100. And that is for the week ending July 15. That’s from about 6,400 that previous week. The only part of the country that didn’t record more hospitalizations was in the Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
In Michigan, there are COVID hospitalizations in the Detroit area, and in the Standish area.
We do not have to worry so much here yet, but an outbreak could be brought back to Genesee County by those vacationing in other parts of the country. That is why I keep up to date on vaccines!
Sources:
https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/resources/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-dashboard
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
