Category Archives: Vaccine booster

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Vaccine booster

How COVID deaths compare to the past – In the last six months, California saw 3,472 deaths

[Note from BenIndy Contributor Roger Straw: This article paints a somewhat encouraging picture, comparing the number of current COVID deaths to those during the first 6 months of the pandemic. The good news is that there are far fewer deaths overall, but it stresses the proportionately higher rate of deaths among the elderly. Startling fact at the end – “the two youngest age groups are the only ones that saw more deaths in the past six months than early in the pandemic.” Take care of your young’uns! – R.S.]

Who’s dying now? Here’s how recent COVID deaths compare to the early months of the pandemic in California

In the last six months California saw 3,472 deaths, a fraction of the number that died in the first six months

Vallejo Times-Herald, by By Harriet Rowan, Bay Area News Group, April 16, 2024

Four years after the start of the COVID pandemic, the age and race of its victims in California have dramatically shifted: Now, a Bay Area News Group analysis finds, those who are dying from the virus are much older, and more often white than Latino, a notable switch.

While COVID deaths in California have plunged across all race and age groups, a comparison of deaths from the first six months of the pandemic to the most recent six months of data compiled by the California Department of Public Health shows 70% of those dying nowadays are 75 or older — up from just over half in early 2020.

And while Latinos made up nearly half of all Californians killed by COVID in the first six months of the pandemic, white residents now account for nearly 60% of all deaths.

The changing demographics and plummeting overall death toll exhibit how Californians built up immunity to the virus, experts say, through exposures and vaccines, and which groups are now the most vulnerable to the worst outcomes.

After four years of living with the virus, life is largely back to pre-pandemic normal. But when the virus first shut down our lives in 2020, face masks and working from home were foreign concepts to most. And while the speed of developing the first COVD vaccines was unprecedented in science, it took until early 2021 — the heart of the pandemic’s deadliest wave — for the public to get immunized. While COVID’s risk has certainly diminished, how much has its deadly wake actually changed in that time?

First, the virus is much less deadly. In the most recent six months for which data is available, from Sept. 1, 2023, through Feb. 29, 2024, there were 3,472 deaths attributed to the virus in California. But in the first six months of the pandemic, Feb. 1 through Aug. 31, 2020, more than four times that number of Californians died from COVID — 14,648.

“Wow, we are doing so much better than we were,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, his first reaction when looking at the data.

The total number of people dying has dropped across the board in nearly every category. More people over 85 died in the first six months of the pandemic, 4,209, than the number of deaths across all age groups in the past six months.

Second, your age is a factor. While older people have always been more vulnerable, they account for an even higher proportion of COVID deaths now.

The proportion of all COVID deaths among those 85 and older has grown from 29% to 42%. But that doesn’t mean the virus is deadlier for our elders: In the first six months of the pandemic, there were three times more deaths from the virus in that 85-and-older age group than there were in the most recent six-month period.

However small the number, there is one statistical peculiarity: The two youngest age groups are the only ones that saw more deaths in the past six months than early in the pandemic.

No deaths were reported among children younger than 14 in the Golden State through Aug. 31, 2020, but three young children have died from COVID, including two children under 5, in the last six months.

While deaths have become more concentrated among older Californians, another factor has changed dramatically: the racial breakdown of the people dying.

Early in the pandemic, “Blacks and Latinos struggled much more … in terms of mortality rates than any other population, primarily compared to Asian and White populations,” Swartzberg noted. “But that has flipped.”

The percentage of Californians who died who are White has nearly doubled, from 30% to 60% of all COVID deaths, from 4,332 deaths through August 2020, to 2,065 deaths in the most recent period. White people make up 37% of the state’s residents.

Moving in the other direction, the proportion of Latino deaths among those who died from COVID has shrunk from 49% of the first six months to just 20% of recent deaths. Latino people make up 39% of the state’s residents.

California’s Latino population is younger and therefore less at risk, Swartzberg said.

And he has some more educated guesses as to why the early pandemic death trends among racial groups have flipped so dramatically: In the first years of the pandemic, many Black and Latino communities were not getting vaccinated as quickly as their White counterparts, a combination of lack of access and insufficient outreach, but that has changed as the pandemic has evolved.

A November 2023 poll by KFF, a nonprofit health care research foundation, found a slightly higher percentage of Black and Hispanic adults reported getting an updated vaccine, compared to 19% of White adults. And the gap grew when adding those who planned on getting the new vaccine but hadn’t yet, 59% of Black and Hispanic adults and just 42% of White adults. The poll also found White adults were less likely to take precautions against catching and spreading the virus during this past holiday season.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UCSF professor of medicine who specializes in infectious diseases, also points to political influence on vaccine uptake as “one of the most compelling trends.”

The KFF poll found Democrats were twice as likely as Republicans to say they had already gotten the updated vaccine, while 55% of Republicans said they would “definitely not get” the new vaccine compared to 12% of Democrats and 40% of independents.

“In the beginning, none of this was political … we were all in this together,” said Chin-Hong. “The differential in mortality was based on structural racism and lack of access, underlying medical problems. But then it became a very polarizing issue, like everything regarding COVID.”

More COVID on the Benicia Independent…

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Coronavirus, Covid 19, Omicron variant, Vaccine booster

FDA authorizes 2nd COVID booster for older adults

UPDATE: Second COVID bivalent booster shots set to roll out. Here’s what you need to know

Lu Foster receives a COVID-19 booster shot at the Lynne and Roy M. Frank Residences in San Francisco in October 2021. The FDA approved a second bivalent booster dose for older adults and people with compromised immune systems. Brontë Wittpenn/The Chronicle 2021

San Francisco Chronicle, by Aidin Vaziri, April 18, 2023 [See also, this article updated: April 19, 2023]

On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second COVID-19 booster dose for older Americans and individuals with weakened immune systems to enhance their protection this spring.

Coronavirus map: How many COVID cases are in Bay Area and California

The move comes amid concerns over newer variants of the virus causing the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths to tick back up in the United States, particularly among vulnerable populations.

Individuals age 65 or older may opt for a second shot of the bivalent vaccine targeting the omicron strains of the coronavirus at least four months after their initial dose. For those who are immunocompromised, a second booster shot may be received at least two months later, with additional doses at the discretion of their physician.

The FDA also announced that the original versions of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are outdated and will no longer be used. Instead, individuals receiving these shots will be administered the newer omicron-targeted version. For those receiving their first-ever vaccine, a single combo dose will suffice.

A Jackson, Miss., resident receives a Pfizer booster shot from a nurse at a vaccination site. The FDA approved a second bivalent booster dose for older adults and people with compromised immune systems. Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press 2022

According to Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA vaccine chief, “At this stage of the pandemic, data support simplifying the use of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The agency believes this approach will help encourage future vaccination.”

Although Britain and Canada have already recommended an additional spring booster for vulnerable populations, high-risk Americans who last received a dose in the fall have been eagerly anticipating another dose.

Booster doses continue to stave off severe disease and death, even as more contagious variants have emerged, while protection against mild infections is short-lived.

At least 250 people in the U.S. still die from COVID-19 each day, many of them older and at higher risk for the worst outcomes of the disease.

Yvonne Maldonado, an infectious disease expert at Stanford, said, “If you look at who’s dying or getting sick now, it’s people who are unvaccinated or unboosted.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must approve the latest round of boosters, and its advisers are scheduled to meet on Wednesday.

The Pfizer and Moderna boosters contain protection against both the original coronavirus strain and omicron variants known as BA.4 and BA.5. Recent studies show that the bivalent shots are still effective, even as newer omicron cousins circulate.

The FDA’s simplification also means changes for unvaccinated children. Children under 5 may receive two doses of the bivalent Moderna vaccine or three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine.

People 5 and older may get a single bivalent Pfizer shot or two Moderna doses. Children already fully or partially vaccinated with the original Pfizer or Moderna shots may get a bivalent vaccine, but the number of doses will depend on their vaccination history, the FDA said.

While over 95% of the U.S. population aged 65 and older received at least one vaccine dose, only 42.1% of those eligible have received the latest boosters, which were authorized in August, according to the CDC.

The offering of a second bivalent booster will not interfere with the Biden administration’s previously stated plan of moving the nation toward an annual COVID vaccine similar to the flu shot.

But for eligible high-risk groups, a second booster in the spring is a reasonable choice, said Dr. Matthew Laurens of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“We do have vaccines that are available to protect against these severe consequences, so why not use them?” he said. “They don’t do any good just sitting on a shelf. So let’s give them to individuals who are at the highest risk and who can benefit the most.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Hospitalizations, Omicron variant, Solano County CA, Vaccine, Vaccine booster

Report shows booster way more effective than only two shots

Less than half of us who are eligible have gotten our booster!

Three HUGE new CDC studies were featured on CNN this morning, emphasizing the critical importance of getting your booster shot:

Boosters prevent hospitalizations
Boosters prevent ER/Urgent Care visits
Boosters prevent Omicron illnesss
  • Booster effectiveness at preventing omicron hospitalizations: Boosters 90%, Two Shots 57%
  • Booster effectiveness at preventing omicron ER-UrgentCare Visits: Boosters 82%, Two Shots 38%
  • Booster effectiveness at preventing omicron illness: 66% lower for people who had booster vs. two shots along
Let’s be clear: who/when should get the booster…
Dr. Leanna Wen urges CDC to redefine booster as “third shot” so public will understand boosters are essential, not a “nice-to-have”.
Here’s the full CNN report, only 8 minutes of your time:
Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Omicron variant, Solano County CA, Vaccine, Vaccine booster, Vaccine mandate

VIDEO: Benicia City Council chooses to continue mask mandate

BENICIA CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSION ON MASK MANDATE, JANUARY 18, 2022

For a little over an hour last night, Benicia City staff, Council and members of the public discussed whether to continue Benicia’s COVID-19 mask mandate, and what “metrics” should be used to determine when it is safe to lift the mandate.

In light of the current upswing and unpredictability given the Omicron surge, Council chose to leave the mandate in place, and to keep an eye on mask regulations issued by the State of California Department of Public Health.

It’s a fascinating discussion.  Below you can view the entire conversation, or choose one or more shorter segments of particular interest: public comments by Benicia residents Stephen Golub, Marilyn Bardet, and Dr. Richard Fleming (and also the follow-up Q&A with Dr. Fleming. )  Finally, you may view Mayor Young’s 1-minute closing summary.

The entire conversation, Benicia City Council Meeting on Jan 18, 2022, ITEM 21.B) – UPDATE ON FACE COVERINGS MANDATE…

Public comment by Benicia resident Stephen Golub
Public comment by Benicia resident Marilyn Bardet
Public comment by Benicia resident Dr. Richard Fleming (including a really informative follow-up Q&A with Mayor Young)

No Action summary by Mayor Young (mask mandate remains in place for now):