Over 40 percent of Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while more than 28 percent have been fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. While vaccines have been widely promoted as the key to returning to normalcy, some recent reports may say otherwise.
Michigan has one of the highest vaccination acceptance rates in the country, with more than one-third of its population, or 2.7 million people, fully vaccinated. But while one might expect Michigan’s hospitalization and death rates to reflect its high vaccination rate, weekly COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed from 1,000 per day six weeks prior to more than ten times at 10,669 cases per day, according to data from Popular Science.
Hundreds of fully vaccinated individuals in the state have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with three reported deaths. Two of the individuals died within three weeks of getting the jab.
As of April 18, the state had 28 percent more COVID-19 cases than it did on March 18, and hospitalizations have almost doubled. Officials attribute the COVID-19 spike in Michigan to the spread of the UK variant and relaxed masking and social distancing requirements. “Some of these individuals may ultimately be excluded from this list due to continuing to test positive from a recent infection prior to being fully vaccinated,” Lynn Sutfin, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.
“These cases are undergoing further review to determine if they meet other CDC criteria for determination of potential breakthrough, including the absence of a positive antigen or PCR test less than 45 days prior to the post-vaccination positive test,” she said.
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In Colorado, officials announced that a third wave resulted in hospitalization rates increasing by 33 percent between March 18 and April 18. Death counts increased slightly during this period as well. Health authorities were unpleasantly surprised by spikes in positive COVID-19 tests in 10 counties around the high country, the Front Range, and the Western Slope.
Over 4 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered to inhabitants in Colorado, which has a population of about 5.8 million. The UK and California variants now account for nearly half of the positive tests in the state. The UK variant is reportedly 60 percent more contagious than the original virus and has become the predominant driver of infection in America, according to The New York Times.
Similar death rates in states with and without lockdowns
The claim that lockdowns prevent COVID-19 deaths has been brought into question by recent data analysis results published in Natural News. Data from 11 states that did not impose stay-at-home orders during the past autumn and summer seasons was compared with data from all 50 states.
The average death rate in the no-lockdown and limited-measures states was calculated to be 1,671 per million, which was lower than the 1,736 per million average death rate in states that implemented lockdown measures. The dataset used in the analysis was sourced from Worldometer.
“This conclusion is reinforced by looking at the death tolls in the four states which imposed no restrictions at all over the winter, the average of which is 1,716 deaths per million, which is still below that of those which imposed lockdowns (1,736). Florida reopened in the autumn, Georgia and South Carolina in the spring of 2020, and South Dakota never closed. Yet overall they have suffered fewer Covid deaths per million than the states which imposed stay-at-home lockdowns this winter,” states the article.
Vaccine efficacy concerns with mutant variants
Even if the vaccination campaign continues unabated, another surge in infections could still occur if the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates to such an extent that the first generation of vaccines becomes ineffective. Previous studies have already shown that mutations in the spike protein, such as E484K, threaten the efficacy of current vaccines. A recent global survey commissioned by The People’s Vaccine Alliance found that almost 88 percent of epidemiologists believe such a situation could occur in less than a year.
According to Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor at Yale, the fact that millions of people worldwide continue to contract COVID-19 means that new mutations will naturally arise.
“Sometimes they find a niche that makes them more fit than their predecessors. These lucky variants could transmit more efficiently and potentially evade immune responses to previous strains,” he said to NewsGP.
In contrast, former Pfizer Vice President and Chief Scientist for Allergy & Respiratory Dr. Michael Yeadon, who worked in the industry for 32 years, believes that mutant variants are hyped up by officials to push their vaccination and vaccine passport agendas. “There was no possibility at all, based on all of the variants that are in the public domain, 4000 or so of them, none of them are going to escape immunity [i.e. become more dangerous].”
The U.S. has registered more than 32.6 million cases of COVID-19 infections and over 583,000 deaths. According to a CDC forecast, the number of new deaths will be stable or uncertain over the next four weeks ending on May 15, with total deaths potentially reaching up to 596,000.
California ranks first among U.S. states in terms of a number of COVID-19 infections, with total cases exceeding 3.7 million. Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois hold the remaining top five spots. During President Joe Biden’s first three months in office, more than 170,000 people have died from COVID-19.
