Vaccine opponents are seizing on the death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was fully vaccinated yet died of Covid-19 complications, to cast doubt on the vaccination effort against the virus.

These people are dangerously wrong. Here’s why:
trib.al/vEstvdB
The death of someone like Powell, who was 84 and fighting multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that significantly hampers the immune system, is a potent argument to vaccinate as broadly as possible trib.al/vEstvdB
Data from the CDC makes it abundantly clear that while fully vaccinated people can contract Covid, it’s far less common.

In fact, it was six times less common than in the unvaccinated in August across all age groups trib.al/vEstvdB
The risk of dying was 11.3 times higher among the unvaccinated during the same period trib.al/vEstvdB
The further you break down the data, the more clear it becomes that most are at a far lower risk than Powell was even when healthy.

Most bad breakthrough cases occur in older people because they have a weaker immune response to vaccines and diseases trib.al/vEstvdB
The risk of dying from Covid while fully vaccinated is most pronounced in those older than 80 — though the death rate is still below what unvaccinated people in the 50-64 age group face — and drops steeply from there trib.al/vEstvdB
Older people were also vaccinated earlier than others and may see vaccine efficacy fade more over time.

For this reason, they have been prioritized for boosters trib.al/vEstvdB
Those older than 65 who received Pfizer’s vaccine became eligible for boosters in late September.

Authorization for those vaccinated with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots is expected soon trib.al/vEstvdB
People extra vulnerabilities make up an outsize portion of those who become extremely ill.

One study conducted from March to May of this year found that 44.7% of breakthrough cases requiring hospitalization were in those with weakened immune systems trib.al/vEstvdB
People with blood cancer can have a weak response to Covid vaccines, and some don’t generate any measurable protection. That isn’t the vaccines’ fault.

It’s a consequence of a disease that specifically interferes with the body’s ability to protect itself trib.al/vEstvdB
Powell’s age and condition gave him very high risks. Individual protection wasn't enough.

He needed as many people around him as possible to be vaccinated to diminish his chances of catching Covid-19 trib.al/vEstvdB

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More from @bopinion

17 Oct
It’s only a matter of time before New York gets a storm that brings both high seas and heavy rains.

Is the city ready? trib.al/rNx7JKU
Hurricane Ida put an exclamation point on realities that New York was already grappling with.

Like other parts of the world, the city is confronting more than calamitous extreme events. It’s the drip, drip of “the chronic worsening of average conditions”
trib.al/JgcjfKN Image
The NYC Stormwater Resiliency Plan says that weatherwise, the scale of everything has changed.

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15 Oct
There are roughly a million qualified immigrant workers waiting to get visas to work in the United States.

About 80,000 green cards will go to waste if Congress doesn’t act soon trib.al/yeaVAIa
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The shortfall adds to a backlog of more than 1 million people waiting to receive employment-based visas trib.al/yeaVAIa
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This means, among other things, upgrading technology to allow applicants to file paperwork online trib.al/yeaVAIa
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14 Oct
☕ Starbucks is marking its 50th anniversary.

If you think that number must be off by a couple of decades, you’re not alone.

The chain only made its way into most of our lives in the 1990s. Its success was a slow brew, requiring several recipe changes trib.al/gq9fyqV
The original Starbucks wasn’t a café.

It sold gourmet beans and equipment so customers could make their own coffee.

In 1981, a sales rep visited to see why four small stores in Seattle were selling more of a simple drip setup than all of Macy’s trib.al/jW0jdDX Image
The sales rep's name was Howard Schultz.

Starbucks could go national, he told the owners, with “dozens of stores, maybe even hundreds,” and become a brand-name “synonymous with great coffee.” He wanted to bring ubiquitous cafés to the U.S. trib.al/jW0jdDX Image
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14 Oct
The U.S. economy grew at an annualized pace of 0.6% from the duration (so far) of the Covid-19 pandemic.

That masks some pretty big regional divergences, though trib.al/FivrEZS
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The prices of fossil fuels collapsed early in the pandemic trib.al/Z7i82eT Image
Overall, the U.S. economy’s center of gravity shifted westward during Covid:

The Northeast’s economy is smaller
The Great Lakes region barely grew
The Southeast modestly outpaced the national average trib.al/Z7i82eT Image
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The world of logistics and manufacturing is in a state of disarray.

A record number of ships are stuck outside Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Shortages of everything from vessels to truck drivers abound trib.al/arL9DMJ
With freight rates soaring, the ocean-shipping industry is beginning to look like a cartel.

The days of quick, cheap deliveries will soon become a distant memory trib.al/Ar6qsj7
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8 Oct
If you have attended a conference or public event recently, you may have noticed: The wealthier attendees are not usually wearing masks, but the poorer servers and staff almost always are trib.al/GwLdlrA
Even if the attendees are wearing masks at the beginning, the masks come off once they start wining and dining — and they usually don’t go back on.

Isn’t this a sign that mask-wearing is no longer so essential? trib.al/GwLdlrA Image
It sends a mixed message: If you want to be comfortable eating and drinking with your peers, it’s OK to take off your mask.

But it’s not OK if you want to be comfortable:

🍲Serving food
🍽️Carrying heavy trays
🍰Describing the dessert menu
trib.al/GwLdlrA Image
Read 9 tweets

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