By Steve Murphy
Raleigh, NC – Until we had vaccines, the age stratification of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths was pronounced and heavily weighted to the older (65+) population. In North Carolina, this age group contributed to over 70% of the hospitalizations and over 80% of the deaths.
Since the vaccines have been made available in mid-December and due to the initial emphasis on vaccinating this age group as a priority, we have seen the age stratification effectively “erased.” The attached chart of daily hospitalizations by age group shows this effect very clearly. For clarity, the chart shows hospitalizations as a seven-day moving average, so it is more readable, but I have the data for all of these trends if anyone wants more detail.
The reduction in the older population being infected and hospitalized is one of many reasons I argue that vaccines are effective in moving us out of the pandemic and returning us to normal. At this point, I do not plan to waste my time arguing with people about their effectiveness.
Additionally, the vaccines are safe, despite what the anti-vax community would have you believe. The vaccines are not causing thousands of hidden deaths and if you see anyone claiming this to be the case, they should be ignored. In particular, do not listen to anyone who uses data from VAERS or EudraVigilance as their data source. Yes, they are government run sites, but the data is not verified and do not in anyway indicate a vaccine caused a problem. It is basically garbage in = garbage out data until every case is verified.