Thread by @MarkedByCovid

🧵from @FenitN's piece in @washingtonpost is important but would benefit from some edits:

"Covid deaths no longer overwhelmingly among unvaccinated as toll on elderly grows"

[#MarkedByCOVID commentary in brackets]

washingtonpost.com/health/2022/04…

"The pandemic’s toll is no longer falling almost exclusively on those who chose* not to get shots, with vaccine protection waning over time...

[*Note: inaccurate language that blames victims; cultural & structural barriers to vaccination remain.]

...and the elderly and immunocompromised — who are at greatest risk of succumbing to #COVID19 even if vaccinated — having a harder time dodging increasingly contagious strains*."

[*Add: "and increased community spread due to decreased mitigation efforts like universal masking."]

"The vaccinated made up 42% of fatalities in Jan & Feb during the highly contagious omicron variant’s surge,* compared with 23%... in Sept, the peak of the delta wave."

[*Add: "following elected officials' encouragement of mitigation-free holiday gatherings]

“'It’s still absolutely more dangerous to be unvaccinated than vaccinated,' said @AndrewNoymer, a #PublicHealth professor at @UCIrvine who studies #Covid_19 mortality...

“'A pandemic of — and by — the unvaccinated is not correct. People still need to take care in terms of prevention and action if they became symptomatic*.'"
- @UCIrvine's @AndrewNoymer

[*Change: "symptomatic" --> "infected" (asymptomatic people can still spread #Covid)]

"@JasonSalemi, an epidemiologist at @USFHealthMed, said the deaths of vaccinated people are among the consequences of a pandemic response that emphasizes individuals protecting themselves...

'When we are not taking this collective effort* to curb community spread of the virus, the virus has proven time and time again it’s really good at finding that subset of vulnerable people,' @JasonSalemi said.”

[*Change to: "When leaders discourage a collective effort..."]

[*Though this piece was primarily about death rates, it was also fairly comprehensive coverage of the poorly communicated risks of #Covid19 to vaccinated people. Unfortunately, it failed to mention that the vaccines does not prevent #LongCovid.]