This week, Cambria County reached the grim milestone of 19,000 corona virus cases and 500 deaths since the pandemic began. Currently, the state has reported that 47.59% of the county's population (children included) has received the first two doses with the current 7 day average for the first two shots at 77.7 per day. This 7 day average is virtually identical to the 7 day average for new cases which is 72.29 per day as can be seen in the graph above. The above graph is on the logarithmic scale.
On August 13, the state started to report the number of individuals receiving the third booster shot. The pink line on the graph above shows that the 7 day average for the 3rd booster has reached 304.6 per day with a much steeper increase than for those receiving the first to shots.
It seems likely that those receiving the 3rd shot are many of the same individuals who received the first two in the early days of the vaccine rollout back in January. Back then there was a similar steep increase in the number of full vaccinations (yellow line) as is seen now with the third booster (pink line). This is seen in the above graph showing cumulative cases and vaccinations. There are almost as many 3rd boosters as there are those who received the first shot.
The nightmare scenario (as I stated before) is that a variant of the virus evolves that is resistant to the vaccine. In this case we would be back to square one with masks and social distancing. It took 184 years after Edward Jenner (for whom the town of Jennerstown, PA is named) created the smallpox vaccine for it to eradicate the disease. How long will it take us?
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