Today’s entry: Is anyone tracking if any vaccinated people have died? Also, has anyone even tried to estimate when Florida's death numbers will subside?
Bottom Line: The recent news of Congressman Stephen Lynch testing positive for COVID-19 after completing the two-dose schedule for the Pfizer vaccine sparked a bunch of questions like this one. But here’s the thing we should be mindful of before getting into how many vaccinated people may have died of the virus. We know that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are approximately 95% effective in combating COVID-19. That necessarily tells you that out of every 100 fully vaccinated people, 5 will be susceptible to contracting the virus.
One of the most closely watched cases happened right here in South Florida. On January 3rd, Miami Beach doctor Gregory Michael died of a rare blood clotting condition after receiving the first dose of a Pfizer COVID vaccine. Still, it’s not a given it’s connected to the vaccine and his case remains under review. That takes us to The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. This system was setup and is maintained by the United States Department of Health and Human Services and tracks all adverse reactions to vaccinations.
Through last week in the United States there were 131 people who died shortly after receiving a COVID vaccination and 1,330 adverse reactions to a vaccination. It’s unknown how many of the 131 people died due to receiving the vaccine or would have died anyway. All of these cases are still under review.
The good news is that the total is a tiny fraction of those vaccinated. Through last week 23.5 million total doses of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines had taken place. That means deaths potentially related to vaccination amount to 0.000006% of those who’ve received a vaccine, while those who’ve had adverse reactions stand at just 0.00006%. On balance the vaccinations seem to be extremely safe.
As for Florida’s death totals subsiding. We’re seeing that happen we’ve averaged 170 COVID-attributed deaths per day over the past week. That’s down from a recent peak average of 185 and is below even the average from last August. With recent cases tracking at their lowest levels since last fall, we’re likely to continue to see improvement over the near-term at a minimum.
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