There has been limited data on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals (LGBT) in the U.S. Drawing on our previous analyses indicating that LGBT individuals are at greater risk of both COVID-19 health and economic outcomes, this analysis examines their views of the vaccine and their role in uptake.
As of July 2021, eight in ten LGBT adults report being vaccinated for COVID-19, according to the latest KFF COVID Vaccine Monitor. A larger share of LGBT adults report receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine than non-LGBT adults (82% vs. 66%). Eight in ten report being fully vaccinated (80% with one of their one-dose vaccine or two of their two-dose). Eighteen percent (18%) of LGBT adults remain unvaccinated, a smaller share than for non-LGBT adults, 32% of whom remain unvaccinated.
Among LGBT adults, a small share (2%) say they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible, while 4% want to wait and see before getting vaccinated, and 12% say they will definitely not get the vaccine (similar to the 14% of non-LGBT adults who express this view).
In KFFs analysis of April and May polling data, 56% of LGBT adults reported being vaccinated, 5% wanted to get one as soon as possible, and another 20% wanted to wait and see, mostly matching the reported intentions among the general public, 59% of whom were already vaccinated, 6% wanted it right away, and 14% were wait and see. Around 1 in 10 LGBT people reported they definitely would not get vaccinated (11%) or would only get it if required (7%), also similar to intentions among the general population.
Now however, a larger share of LGBT adults report being vaccinated, surpassing rates among the non-LGBT population.
A previous KFF analysis examined the demographic groups among the unvaccinated population finding adults who are still unvaccinated tend to be older, more Republican-leaning, less educated, and lower income, with each of those groups making up a larger part of unvaccinated than the vaccinated group. Party identification, in particular, tends to be a strong predictor of vaccination intentions.
Higher rates of vaccination among LGBT adults compared to their non-LGBT peers may be associated with strong Democratic party identification, rather than or in addition to, sexual orientation or gender identity. Two-thirds of LGBT adults identify as Democrats or lean that way compared to 43% of non-LGBT adults. By contrast, more than a third (36%) of non-LGBT adults identify or lean Republican compared to 14% of LGBT adults. Additionally, LGBT adults tend to be younger and lower income, two groups that tend to have low vaccination rates. Almost half (45%) of adults who identify as LGBT are under age 30 compared to 19% of non-LGBT adults, and half (51%) of LGBT adults compared to a third (34%) of non-LGBT people report having household incomes under $40,000. High self-reported vaccination rates among LGBT people could be driven by their Democratic partisanship, but also is in spite of their relatively young age and lower incomes.
In addition to higher vaccination uptake, LGBT individuals have different views of how the media has portrayed the severity of the pandemic, as well as the relative risk of the vaccines versus the virus.
Three in 10 (31%) LGBT adults say what is said in the news generally underestimates the seriousness of the pandemic compared to one in five (18%) non-LGBT adults. Another four in ten LGBT adults (40%) say the news is generally correct in its portrayal of the seriousness of the pandemic, which is similar to the share of non-LGBT adults who report the same (44%).
Consistent with views of the pandemic generally, a large majority of LGBT adults say becoming infected with coronavirus is a bigger risk to their health than getting vaccinated (82%), while 14% think getting vaccinated is a bigger risk. About 7 in 10 (69%) non-LGBT people agree that becoming infected is a bigger risk, though this share is somewhat less than among the LGBT group.
Similar to other adults, LGBT people generally have high levels of confidence in the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. Two-thirds of LGBT people think the available COVID-19 vaccines are extremely or very effective at preventing vaccinated individuals from getting seriously sick or hospitalized if infected (67%) and dying from COVID (66%). Another 56% say the vaccines are effective at preventing infection if exposed to someone who is sick and 45% say the same of passing coronavirus on to others.
LGBT adults are more supportive of vaccine mandates than non-LGBT adults. Almost two-thirds (65%) of LGBT people support the federal government recommending that employers require their employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, unless they have a medical exemption. Fewer non-LGBT adults agree with the government recommended mandates, with the group split between supporting them (50%) and not (47%). Given that views on government mandates divide sharply along partisan lines, this division of opinion between LGBT adults and non-LGBT adults likely reflects the fact that LGBT adults lean more Democratic, as noted above.
Nearly all cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are among the unvaccinated
Arizona today hit a new milestone in the war on COVID-19: more than 4 million men, women and children over 12 have now received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Arizonans are stepping up and doing their part to put this pandemic behind us, said Don Herrington, interim director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. This battle is not over but were clearly headed in the right direction.
More than 3.5 million Arizonans are fully vaccinated, or about 55 percent of the states population.
If you arent among those armed against COVID, here are four reasons to roll up your sleeve today:
As of this morning, 7,287,508 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to 4,005,841 people in Arizona, including 3,517,935 who are fully vaccinated. More than 55% of all Arizonans have had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Vaccination has ramped up in Arizona since mid-July. During the week beginning Aug. 15, 104,000 were vaccinated, the first since the week of June 13 that more than 100,000 people have been vaccinated in Arizona.
For those who have already had COVID-19, it isnt clear how long natural protection lasts, while vaccination for those whove had COVID-19 has proven to offer long-lasting benefits.
Safe, free, and highly effective COVID-19 vaccines are availabletodayat hundreds of locations throughout Arizona. To protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community, please find a convenient locationazdhs.gov/FindVaccineand get vaccinated.
To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination, please visitazdhs.gov/COVID19Vaccines.
The City of Encinitas announced Aug. 27 that they and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 221 have reached an agreement requiring all represented employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a city news release. The agreement is similar to the new COVID-19 protocols for non-union employees which were announced on Aug. 17.
I want to thank the SEIU leadership and their members for working with our management team on this very important matter, said City Manager Pamela Antil. This agreement will allow all of us to continue doing our part to keep our employees and our community as safe as possible.
All City of Encinitas employees, including the 111 employees represented by SEIU, the largest union at the City, will need to show proof of vaccination beginning Oct. 7, which will mark 45 days since the Federal Drug Administration fully approved the Pfizer vaccine. This is due to the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations throughout San Diego County.
We at the City of Encinitas are holding ourselves to a higher standard of safety, said Mayor Catherine Blakespear. We do not want to be the cause of any infections and we know the vaccine is the best way to stop the spread of coronavirus. We want people to have the confidence when they come into City Hall to conduct business or when our employees enter their homes that we are doing all we can to protect them.
The Citys management team will continue to talk with the Citys Fire Union, representing 50 employees, including firefighter/paramedics who have agreed to have the remaining 36 percent of unvaccinated employees in their ranks be tested weekly, but remain against the Citys mandatory vaccine requirement. City of Encinitas news release
While its evident that vaccination provides strong protection against the coronavirus, scientists are increasingly concerned vaccinated people may be more susceptible to serious illness than was previously thought.
According to a report by Bloomberg, this growing concern comes in the midst of a shortage of scientific studies with solid answers, leaving public policymakers and corporate executives with only fragmented information on which to base their plans.
As a result, the report noted mask mandates are being renewed and office reopenings are being delayed, while other officials are choosing to maintain the status quo, citing the lack of clarity to justify their decisions.
Anecdotes tell us what the data cant: Vaccinated people appear to be getting the coronavirus at a surprisingly high rate, Bloomberg reported. What isnt clear is the frequency at which this is happening as well as the likelihood of those people spreading the virus to others.
As Bloomberg reports, vaccinated people are much less likely to require hospital treatment for COVID-19 and are much less likely to need to be put on ventilators. And those who have had the COVID-19 vaccine are much less likely to die.
But about 30% of adults have yet to be vaccinated. And doctors are paying attention to infections among those who have been vaccinated.
Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the head of the nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives said, We have to be humble about what we do know and what we dont know.
There are a few things we can say definitively. One is that this is a hard question to address, he added.
The vulnerability of the vaccinated is a key variable.
For vaccinated people, the lack of clear public health messaging reportedly has left them confused as to how to protect themselves. Their level of vulnerability is a key variable for public health officials as they try to make informed decisions, such as when booster shots might be needed, or whether to roll back reopenings amid a new wave of the virus.
Its quite clear that we have more breakthroughs now, said Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. We all know someone who has had one. But we dont have great clinical data.
The report noted one of the best-known outbreaks among vaccinated people that occurred in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Thousands of vaccinated and unvaccinated alike gathered over the July 4th weekend to celebrate the holiday and what appeared to be a turning point in the pandemic. Vaccinated people accounted for about three-fourths of the resulting 469 infections.
Prompted by the incident, the CDC reversed a recommendation it had issued just a few weeks prior and once again urged the vaccinated to mask up in certain settings, Bloomberg reported.
There are more questions than answers.
Bloomberg noted there are simply more questions than answers at this time. Is the delta variant the reason breakthrough infections are ticking up or could it be that immunity is waning, or simply the result of returning to normal life?
Its anyones guess.
Are vaccinated people more vulnerable to severe illness than was previously thought? Just how common are breakthrough infections? the news outlet asked. Its anyones guess.
It is generally the case that we have to make public health decisions based on imperfect data, Frieden said. But there is just a lot we dont know, Bloomberg cited.
An expanded version of this post can be accessed via Bloomberg.
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Why Is a Third Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine Needed for Immunocompromised Patients? Cleveland Clinic
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) A Johnson City mother and nurse is doing what she can to fight back against COVID-19 by encouraging people to get vaccinated in a creative way.
It all started with a video. During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bethany Teilhet picked up her scissors and cut her own bangs.
I had straightened it, just kind of playing around, and I was like oh, Ill cut my bangs, Ill cut some bangs, which Ive done before, Teilhet said. Well I cut them, and I cut them way too short.
But something has Teilhet wanting to do it again.
I posted it again, and said, Hey, if I can get 100 people newly vaccinated, Ill cut my bangs again,' Teilhet said.
And so far, its working. 12-year-old Ava Nutter was one of at least 25 that have already rolled up their sleeves.
I wanted to get vaccinated because things started getting crazy, and I didnt want to get COVID again like I did in December, Nutter said. I didnt want other people to be sick.
Teilhet is also giving away Starbucks to those who get the shot.
In honor of the new FDA-approval COVID vaccine, I was excited, Teilhet said. I also love Starbucks, and it was the first day of Starbucks having Pumpkin Spice.
Teilhet said shes already received hundreds of dollars in donations from community members to go towards the gift cards.
Theres so much we cant do, Teilhet said. Theres so much we cant control, and so this is just one way that we can maybe have fun, have a little laughter and a little joy, and if that means you know at the cost of me and making fun of myself a little bit, Ill take it.
BANGKOK, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Thailand expects to have 140 million doses of coronavirus vaccines this year as the country ramps up inoculation to fight its biggest wave of infections, which shows some signs of easing, a government spokesman said on Sunday.
The Southeast Asian country is struggling to tackle the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus, which has seen a record infections of over 23,000 earlier this month. On Sunday, it reported 16,536 new cases and 264 deaths.
While new cases remain high, they are likely to decline further, Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said in a statement.
With new cases slowing, the government on Friday announced to ease some of the strictest containment measures in Bangkok and other 28 high-risk provinces, allowing more travel, and malls and restaurants to reopen from Sept. 1, to help revive a flagging economy https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL4N2PL05N battered by the outbreak.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand is expected to soon issue a statement on the resumption of local flights to and from those areas as well as outbreak control measures.
However, airlines, including Asia Aviation and Bangkok Airways, have already announced the resumption of some local flights from next week.
Thailand started its mass vaccination drive in June, but so far only about 11% of its more than 66 million population has been fully vaccinated. (Reporting by Orathai Sriring and Panarat Thepgumpanat Editing by Michael Perry)
Several hospitals in Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Louisiana are struggling with oxygen scarcity. Some are at risk of having to use their reserve supply or running out of oxygen imminently, according to state health officials and hospital consultants.
With the continued uptick in Covid-19 cases, there has been more demand on the oxygen supply, and hospitals cannot keep up the pace to meet those needs, Donna Cross, who is the senior director of facilities and construction at Premier -- a health care performance improvement company -- told CNN.
"Normally, an oxygen tank would be about 90% full, and the suppliers would let them get down to a refill level of 30-40% left in their tank, giving them a three to five day cushion of supply," Cross explained. "What's happening now is that hospitals are running down to about 10-20%, which is a one to two day supply on hand, before they're getting backfilled."
Even when they're getting backfill, it's only a partial supply of about 50%, Cross said. "It is very critical situation."
Dr. Ahmed Elhaddad, an intensive care unit doctor in Florida, told CNN's Pamela Brown Saturday that he's frustrated and "tired of seeing people die and suffer because they did not take a vaccine."
He noted the Delta variant is "eating" people's lungs, which eventually leads to their collapse as well as heart issues.
"We're seeing the patients die faster with this (Delta) variant," said Elhaddad, who is the ICU medical director at Jupiter Medical Center in Florida.
"This round, we're seeing the younger patients -- 30, 40, 50-year-olds -- and they're suffering. They're hungry for oxygen, and they're dying. Unfortunately, this round they're dying faster," he said.
Elhaddad noted that his ICU does not have a single Covid-19 patient who is vaccinated, nor did he see any vaccinated people die from Covid-19.
"There's no magic medicine. ... The only thing that we're finding is that the vaccine is preventing death. It's preventing patients from coming to the ICU," Elhaddad said.
Meanwhile, less than 50% of people in South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas -- where oxygen supplies are also low -- are fully vaccinated. Studies have shown that full vaccination is necessary for optimal protection against the Delta variant.
Nationally, 52.1% of the population is fully vaccinated as of Saturday, CDC data shows.
Hurricane Ida targeting Louisiana when Covid-19 hospitalizations remain high
As Louisiana's overall vaccination rate remains among the lowest in the nation at 41.2%, the state's hospitals are dealing with hundreds of Covid-19 patients while a hurricane threatens the region.
There are 2,450 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Saturday, which is a drop of 20% in the past 10 days. But it's still the most the state has had since before the current surge in cases, Edwards told CNN's Jim Acosta.
"Evacuating hospitals is not going to be possible because there's nowhere to bring those patients to, there's no excess capacity anywhere else in the state or outside the state," Edwards said.
"Then you have people who may be injured as a result of the hurricane itself, and so we need to make sure we have some capacity for them," he said. "We still have a very, very challenging situation here across the state of Louisiana."
Edwards pointed out that he's worried about lengthy power outages. The state has about 10,000 lineworkers ready to go and another 20,000 on standby to assist as soon as necessary.
"Restoring power is going to be critically important in order to keep these hospitals up and functioning," he said.
'We're headed into a really tough time for young people,' doctor says
A return to in-person learning has led to thousands of students having to quarantine across the US, with Covid-19 cases among children surging to levels not seen since winter.
And hospitalizations of children due to Covid-19 could continue to increase as more of them return to classrooms this fall.
"There is no question that we're headed into a really tough time for young people," Dr. Esther Choo told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Saturday.
Choo, a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, added that while people had some reassurance last year that the virus wouldn't affect children as severely, this year is different.
"We're going back to school in-person, unmasked across the United States. There's a lot of resistance to things like mask mandates and vaccinations that would keep our kids safer in schools," she said.
Notably, children under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Not all schools in the US have opened yet, but the remaining ones are expected to open after Labor Day, which is when Choo said children's Covid-19 hospitalizations could increase.
"We're no doubt going to see more of what we're seeing now, which is hospitals just bursting with pediatric admissions," she said, noting Covid-19 deaths of children will also become more common.
CNN's Kristen Holmes, Amanda Watts, Rebekah Riess and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.
SINGAPOREA surge of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, a little-known but critical link in the semiconductor supply chain, has opened a new front in the battle to fix manufacturing woes that have rippled across industries during a global shortage of computing chips.
The Southeast Asia nation is one of the worlds top destinations for assembly and testing of the devices that control smartphones, car engines and medical equipment. Disruptions in Malaysia threaten to prolong uncertainty over chip supply well into next year, dashing hopes of relief in the second half of 2021.
The supply crunch in Malaysia, caused primarily by staff shortages linked to virus-control measures combined with a sharp surge in global demand, poses a new problem for the auto industry. For the first half of this year, shortages largely stemmed from companies miscalculating the pace of economic recoveries and not ordering enough parts. Now they cant always get the parts they need because Covid-19 outbreaks are denting factory output.
Its a bit like a game of whack-a-mole, said Ravi Vijayaraghavan, a Singapore-based partner at the consulting firm Bain & Co. specializing in semiconductors. We think we have supply sorted out, and then a problem suddenly pops up somewhere else.
Some of the worlds leading car makers including Toyota Motor Corp. , Ford Motor Co. , General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have disclosed major production cuts due largely to chip shortages from factories in Malaysia. Ford suspended work for about a week at an F-150 plant in the Kansas City, Mo., area and a Fiesta factory in Cologne, Germany because of missing parts, while Toyota said it would cut global production by around 40% in September. General Motors said it expects to make 100,000 fewer vehicles in North America in the second half of the year.
Posted: Aug 29, 2021 / 09:57 AM EDT / Updated: Aug 29, 2021 / 10:01 AM EDT
Caleb Wallace, the co-founder of the San Angelo Freedom Defenders and West Texas Minutemen State Coordinator has died from causes related to COVID-19, according to an update on gofundme by his wife, Jessica Wallace.
Caleb has peacefully passed on. He will forever live in our hearts and minds, reads the most recent update on the campaign that was set up to help Wallaces three children and his wife, a stay-at-home mother who is expecting a fourth child in late September.
This money is also going towards Calebs medical bills as they start coming in, reads an update to the campaigns description, Hes now been in the hospital since July 30th and I know I must prepare for them as well. Gotta pray for the best and prepare for the worst.
While Wallace had become a semi-regular feature in local news through his conservative activism, it was his battle with COVID-19 that garnered the national spotlight after his familys struggle was featured in an article published in the San Angelo Standard Times on Sunday, August 22, 2021.
His organization of the Freedom Rally, a protest against state and local mask requirements during the summer of 2020 made him a figure of some prominence among those in the community who were opposed to mask mandates.
This opposition to coronavirus mitigation measures like mask mandates lead Wallace to found the San Angelo Freedom Defenders with like-minded local, Coco Simpson. The Freedom Defenders held local rallies like the San Angelo Freedom Parade in July of 2020 and the October 2020 Rally to End COVID-19 Tyrrany.
Its pacifying the 1-2% speaking the loudest and leaving the rest of us behind, said Simpson in an interview about Governor Greg Abbotts July 2020 mask mandate, If you want to wear a mask feel free to do so. I dont choose to and I shouldnt wear one because it makes you feel better.
Wallace reportedly believed that vaccine mandates were also an infringement on peoples constitutional rights. In an article published in the New York Times on Friday, August 27, 2020, Wallaces father attested to his sons stance against vaccine and mask requirements, saying, After watching all of the governments efforts here, he decided he wanted to do something about it
I cant tell the difference if I have freedom to breathe free air or breathe it behind sucking air behind this thing, Wallace said while speaking to local officials at a COVID-19 Update held by the City of San Angelo on November 13, 2020.
My health has nothing to do with you. As harsh as that sounds, but our constitutional, fundamental rights protect that. Nothing else. said Wallace.
Im sorry if that comes off as blunt and that I dont care. I do care. I care more about freedom than I do for your personal health.
Wallaces most recent public action was in the form of an open letter, published locally on April 10, 2021, to the San Angelo Independent School District calling on the school board to rescind ALL COVID-related policies immediately!
