The dam burst this week. Federal agencies and states began imposing vaccine mandates on their employees as COVID-19 soared in the United States. The Department of Veterans Affairs was first federal agency to implement a mandate. On Thursday, President Joe Biden declared that all federal employees would need to be vaccinated, or undergo testing, among other protocols. New York City and Los Angeles will require all city workers to be vaccinated.Private companies are also doing the same. Google announced Wednesday that all employees must be vaccinated before they can come to work. Lyft and Facebook followed suit with similar announcements just hours later. New York City restaurants require employees to be vaccinated. They ask diners for proof.States and organizations have used incentives for months to encourage people to get their vaccines. These incentives can be effective and can encourage people to get vaccinated.These are positive behavioral nudges or carrots, Aaron Carroll, chief of health at Indiana University wrote in The New York Times. People like carrots when it comes to incentives. Yesterday, the Biden administration stated that it wanted state and local governments giving $100 to newly vaccinated people. However, carrots only go so far. They won't push enough people to be vaccinated in order to stop the pandemic. Carroll stated that sometimes people need to be able to hold on.Since the first COVID-19 shots were authorized, the US has been tethered to the issue of vaccine mandates. Several lawmakers in the United States have attempted to ban mandates. With major players now requiring vaccinations, smaller organizations will have the opportunity to add more. They won't be the only ones to do this, and they can also point to larger precedents to support their decision.Wow! Talk about reaching a tipping point. Each organization or industry that decides to mandate vaccination will make it easier for others to do the same. It is not too late for leaders who haven't done it. Bob Wachter (@Bob_Wachter) July 26, 2021According to Carroll, vaccine mandates have been crucial in stopping pandemics. It was necessary to eliminate smallpox, and eradicate polio. By requiring children to get their shots before they go to school, we control diphtheria and measles. The reason that HPV vaccination rates are not as high as they should be is because vaccines are not required.Because of the backlash and politicization surrounding the COVID-19 vaccinations, mandates will become patchwork, just like the rest. They are more likely to be in effect in states with higher vaccination rates, liberal leadership, and more likely than in Florida where Governor Ron DeSantis has been vocally opposed to mandates and has the new power to cancel emergency orders.Mandates will be implemented in places that allow for more shots in more guns. Although it may have been more convenient to allow high vaccination rates to be achieved without requiring them, it was possible. However, the US' unrealistic vaccine hesitancy is too well-established. Many people don't believe COVID-19 to be a serious enough problem. While mandataries won't solve the problem by themselves, they are one strategy that might help. We need all the support we can get at this stage.Here's what happened this week.ResearchYour Immune System is Ready to BreakthroughsPeople who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are unlikely to get a breakthrough infection. The body's immune system is ready to fight the virus in the rare instances when people are ill. (Katherine J. Wu/The Atlantic)Why is it that fully vaccinated individuals test positive for CovidThe data from England confirms that vaccines work as expected. The disease is now far less deadly. A fully vaccinated 80 year-old with COVID-19 has the same chance of dying from the disease as a 50-year old unvaccinated. (Oliver Barnes, John Burn-Murdoch, Financial Times)Experts ask: Where is the data after the CDC reverses its decision on indoor masking?The CDC has released new recommendations to recommend that people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 use masks indoors in certain situations. Although the agency has not released the data, it said that this is concerning. (Joel Achenbach and Yasmeen Abutaleb as well as Ben Guarino, Carolyn Y. Johnson / Washington PostStudy finds that COVID symptoms may persist in some vaccinated people who get infected.One study of Israeli healthcare workers revealed that some people who had COVID-19 breakthrough cases had symptoms that lasted as long as six weeks. These breakthrough cases are still very rare. (Rob Stein / NPR)DevelopmentModerna and Pfizer-BioNTech are expanding their studies on children aged 5-11 at the FDA's request.Moderna, BioNTech, and Pfizer are increasing the number of COVID-19 vaccine trial participants in children's health to better understand rare side effects. (Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Sharon LaFraniere / The New York Times).Over six months, Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines have maintained their protection against severe diseases.Pfizer released data showing that the vaccines are less effective in severe cases than they are for symptomatic diseases. This data raises questions about boosters and is still being considered by US regulators. (Nicole Wetsman/The Verge)In the U.S.'s Covid Hot Spots, New Vaccinations are ReboundingThe number of vaccinations is also rising in places where COVID-19 has been a major issue. The lowest rates of vaccination are giving shots quicker than the rest of the country. (Drew Armstrong/Bloomberg)PerspectivesThe majority of cats and great apesthe orangutansand gorillas are trained to be voluntary vaccinators, so it will be very easy for them to get vaccinated. The smaller animals can be trained to enter a small mesh box. This will make it easy. Some of the larger primates, which are not as interested in being injected but are very smart, will be the most difficult.Keith Hinshaw, director of animal health at Philadelphia Zoo, spoke to Slate about how the experimental COVID-19 vaccine was administered to animals.More than just numbersWe are grateful to all those who have received the 3.9 million vaccine doses so far.We wish you a smooth road to recovery, to the more than 196.280,506 people around the world who have tested positive.Families and friends of more than 4,192.702 people who have lost their lives around the world 611,904 in the US, know that they are remembered.Everyone, please be safe.
