The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reported on Feb. 7 that 41,211,000 of the 59,308,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, which were delivered to the 50 states, District of Columbia, eight U.S. territories and four federal entities, have been administered.
This 69% utilization rate is a fantastic improvement over the rates that I cited in two Newsmax articles last month:
Date |
Dosages
Distributed |
Dosages
Injected |
Percent |
Jan. 13 |
29,380,000 |
10,278,000 |
35% |
Jan. 23 |
41,412,000 |
20,538,000 |
50% |
Thus, in the 25 days between Jan. 13 and Feb. 7, there were 30,933,000 vaccine dosages injected into Americans, or 1,237,000 each day.
But on Jan. 14, Ken Alltucker of USA Today tendentiously reported that "President-elect Joe Biden wants Americans to get 100 million COVID-19 vaccine shots during the first 100 days of his administration, a lofty goal to reverse a slow start to the nation's vaccine rollout."
In fact, in the 10 days between Jan. 13 and Jan. 23, seven of which were Donald "Warp Speed" Trump's last days in the White House, 10,260,000 shots were delivered into the arms of Americans, or 1,026,000 per day.
Moreover, between Feb. 6 and 7, the number of injected doses remarkably skyrocketed by 2,173,000.
Undoubtedly, sleepy Joe Biden's "lofty," yet scientifically-illiterate goal, of inoculating 1 million Americans daily in 100 consecutive days, has been tossed in the ashcan of history, as a result of the laudable leadership of former President Trump, and, in recent weeks, 50 governors.
While my first of two Newsmax articles, on Jan. 15, identified which states were succeeding, including Texas, Florida, West Virginia, and which were badly lagging, including California, Georgia, Virginia, in their vaccination rates, the great news in early February is that most states are equaling or exceeding the national utilization rate of 69%.
This table lists America's 12 most populous states, which total 196 million of the country's 329 million people, or 60%, and their vaccination rates on Feb. 7:
State |
Dosages
Received |
Dosages
Used |
Percent |
California |
6,964,000 |
4,485,000 |
64% |
Texas |
4,402,000 |
3,247,000 |
74% |
Florida |
3,792,000 |
2,608,000 |
69% |
New York |
3,378,000 |
2,337,000 |
69% |
Pennsylvania |
2,293,000 |
1,408,000 |
61% |
Illinois |
2,089,000 |
1,402,000 |
67% |
Ohio |
1,902,000 |
1,294,000 |
68% |
Georgia |
1,688,000 |
1,146,000 |
68% |
North Carolina |
1,718,000 |
1,243,000 |
72% |
Michigan |
1,640,000 |
1,252,000 |
76% |
New Jersey |
1,481,000 |
1,075,000 |
73% |
Virginia |
1,388,000 |
1,388,000 |
79% |
Nevertheless, as I pointed in another Newsmax article, on Jan. 4, 2021, Americans 65 years of age and older must be prioritized for COVID vaccines, as their death percentages are much higher than those of the four cohorts younger than 25 years old, whose rates are fewer than 2 fatalities per 100,000.
The total number of deaths and for every 100,000 persons, for the three oldest cohorts, as of Feb. 3, 2021, are:
Cohort |
COVID Deaths |
Number Per
100,000 |
65-74 |
89,896 |
286 |
75-84 |
117,104 |
733 |
85 & Older |
135,324 |
2,049 |
These cohorts account for a greatly disproportional 342,324 of 421,378 deaths, or 81%.
Although these CDC "Provisional COVID Death Counts" are grossly inflated, this does not negate the accuracy of the exponentially higher death rates among American senior citizens.
Therefore, in evaluating which states are succeeding and which are failing in vaccinating their residents, it is not sheer numbers alone that are the best barometer of success.
Rather, it is the percentages of vaccinated Americans 65 years of age and older that must be the pre-eminent benchmark.
Indeed, a comparison of California's and Florida's vaccination programs and recent death tolls highlights the former's egregious failures and the latter's noteworthy successes.
On Jan. 13, the vital statistics for both mega-states were:
State |
COVID
Deaths |
Doses
Delivered |
Doses
Used |
Utilization
Rate |
California |
25,023 |
3,436,000 |
891,000 |
26% |
Florida |
20,465 |
1,680,000 |
705,000 |
42% |
On Feb. 7, the vital statistics were:
California |
42,391 |
6,964,000 |
4,485,000 |
64% |
Florida |
25,159 |
3,792,000 |
2,608,000 |
69% |
While California has made great progress since mid-January in increasing the number of inoculations, Florida has since mid-December 2020 prioritized residents 65 years of age and older, but California has not.
COVID deaths for both states recently are:
State |
Dec. 2020 |
Jan. 2021 |
California |
11,980 |
10,221 |
Florida |
3,067 |
3,481 |
Thus, during the last two months, California had 22,201 COVID deaths, to Florida's 6,548.
No wonder the approval rating of Ron DeSantis, Florida's Republican governor, is rising, while that of Gavin Newsom, California's Democratic governor, has been rapidly sinking.
Finally, Newsom's abominable and dictatorial leadership, both medically and economically, during the 13-month SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, is why California voters are poised to recall, and to potentially remove, him from the governorship of America's most populous state.
Mark Schulte is a retired New York City schoolteacher and mathematician who has written extensively about science and the history of science. Read Mark Schulte's Report's — More Here
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