The Sunday front page of the Detroit Free Press:

[demmiblue]

The Detroit Free Press' Sunday edition is dedicated to COVID-19 vaccines. Here's why

At the Free Press, truth-telling is at the very heart of what we do. Although we live in a time when many are not willing to accept the truth, we have a duty as a news institution to keep delivering it. And that is our purpose today: to deliver the truth about COVID-19 and vaccines.

The vaccines are safe and effective, and supported by science. They are widely available, free of charge.

And they can help to end the pandemic and bring us closer to what was once normal.

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/2021/09/19/sunday-free-press-covid-19-vaccines-peter-bhatia/8371644002/

[Johnny2X2X]

1. I read this yesterday, well done piece

But the anti vax people aren't motivated by facts, they're motivated by fear. I honestly think the stories about the unvaxxed getting Covid and dying are a good motivated force for them and should be run non stop.

And I also want to be clear about how small a number of anti Covid vaxxers there really are. It's not some 50-50 split like it seems, over 76% of the adult population in the US is vaccinated with at least 1 shot. That means less than 24% are who we're talking about. Focusing on that could also help. The anti are outnumber more than 3-1.

[Wingus Dingus]

7. Some are motivated by fear, many others are motivated by tribal/political stubbornness.

They're so deeply invested now, they'd rather get sick/die than admit they were wrong.

[CrispyQ]

18. This. So much this!

A common trait they share with Trump—never admit you're wrong. Never admit when you make a mistake. This from the "party of personal responsibility." Their glaring, never-ending hypocrisy is one of the most tiring things about the right/republicans.

[Wingus Dingus]

23. Yeah, it's weird that so many are so attached to this stance now, like it's

a major part of their identity--as you say, very Trumpy and afraid to show what they perceive as weakness in reconsidering their position. I've read accounts of husbands and wives and family turning on each other for being "disloyal" and getting vaccinated--any sort of rational break with the craziness and conspiracies among the tribe, any sort of logical sense of self-preservation, threatens them to the very core.

[onecaliberal]

30. My thoughts are with you guys. I would be terrified as well. Hugs.

[Wingus Dingus]

39. That truly sucks, I hope she stays healthy.

[lastlib]

35. If anti-vaxxers could be reasoned with, they wouldn't be anti-vaxxers.

Dimensional lumber applied to the cranium is the only thing they understand.

[DFW]

37. Don't apply it with too much force

An empty shell like one of theirs would instantly collapse like, well, an empty shell.

[niyad]

2. KNR

[Lovie777]

3. Vaccines is the key in turning the corner of COVID - 19 . . .

It's beyond illogical of why republican politicians, evangelists are "gun" ho against the vaccine. People are dying and suffering (pre-existing condition), and it seems like they just don't give a shit.

It is also noted that majority of the republican politicians are fully vaccinated. Even fake news (fox).

[central scrutinizer]

21. They dearly want Biden to fail

They’re ready, willing and, unfortunately, possibly able to throw the entire country under the bus if they can pick up enough seats in 2022 to control Congress.

[FakeNoose]

41. If an anti-vaxxer dies, why would he care whether Biden fails or succeeds?

Numbers are provided in this DU post from a few days ago:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215853554

What are the odds of getting Covid in the USA in 2021?

Unvaxxed
1 in 8 Chance of catching Covid
1 in 61 Chance of dying from Covid

Fully Vaxxed
1 in 13,402 Chance of catching Covid
1 in 86,500 chance of dying from Covid.

[NJCher]

4. Bravo Sunday free Press

I like the appeal to the vaccinated to step in.

[johnthewoodworker]

5. I'm sure a well researched 'big media' story will have zero effect on unvaccinated morons.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Paper is doing all it can with banner headline

Is the red to appeal to MAGA anti-vaxxers?

March 2020 I compared 1919 pandemic to growth rates coming from other parts of the world. Though it greatly depended on which other countries were used for comparison, I never doubted we'd see upwards of a million deaths as it played out here. The numbers unrestrained - absent masks, lockdowns, certainly without vaccines - were of a magnitude 4-8 times more than we've already seen. Other folks were coming up with similar figures.

Wow this is NOT the time to need hospital services. Count me as exercising caution in all that I do, and driving defensively. No ladders, slow on stairs, wary in all aspects of life.

[Dream Girl]

8. There are many, many people walking around without even the most basic understanding of

Last edited Mon Sep 20, 2021, 11:24 AM - Edit history (1)

Statistics, probability, or even decimals. People are so undereducated it’s simply astounding. I don’t think the average reader will even understand this. Facebook and anecdotes work better for your typical American.

[jaxexpat]

12. We don't need no ELITIST decimals around here!

Sounds like some metric commie plot to take away our freedoms. You take your meters and go back where you came from.

and proud of it!

[lastlib]

36. "An' take yer d*** Arabic numbers with ya!"

Al-gebra is a terrrist organization!

extreme

[Elessar Zappa]

13. Statistics

should be a required course in high school. So should a course that teaches students how to evaluate social and other forms of media for truthfulness.

[Dream Girl]

16. It really should be required. And more from a conceptual perspective, doesn't need to involve

Much math or intimidating formulas

[TeamProg]

9. The Press needs to report how many MORE DEATHS than usual we have in the U.S.

- that's not being done by most of the media.

From NY Times:

Since March 2020, about 574,000 more Americans have died than would have in a normal year, a sign of the broad devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

An analysis of mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows how the pandemic is bringing with it unusual patterns of death, even higher than the official totals of deaths that have been directly linked to the virus.

Deaths nationwide were 21 percent higher than normal from March 15, 2020, to Feb. 20, 2021. Our numbers may be an undercount since recent death statistics are still being updated.

Our analysis examines deaths from all causes — not just confirmed cases of coronavirus — beginning when the virus took hold in the United States last spring. That allows comparisons that do not depend on the accuracy of cause-of-death reporting, and includes deaths related to disruptions caused by the pandemic as well as the virus itself. Epidemiologists refer to fatalities in the gap between the observed and normal numbers of deaths as “excess deaths.”

Public health researchers use such methods to measure the impact of catastrophic events when official measures of mortality are flawed.

As Covid-19 cases have spread across the country, the geographic patterns of abnormal mortality statistics have followed. Excess deaths have peaked three times, so far, as have deaths from Covid-19.

There are now excess deaths in nearly every state, with surges in states like Arizona, California, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia fueling record death tolls in recent weeks.


Counting deaths takes time, and many states are weeks or months behind in reporting. These estimates from the C.D.C. are adjusted based on how mortality data has lagged in previous years. It will take several months before all these numbers are finalized.

During the period of our analysis, estimated excess deaths were 15 percent higher than the official coronavirus fatality count. If this pattern held through March 24, the total death toll would be about 628,000.

For comparison, around 600,000 Americans die from cancer in a normal year. The number of unusual deaths for this period is also higher than the typical number of annual deaths from Alzheimers, stroke or diabetes.

Measuring excess deaths does not tell us precisely how each person died. Most of the excess deaths in this period are because of the coronavirus itself. But it is also possible that deaths from other causes have risen too, as hospitals in some hot spots have become overwhelmed and people have been scared to seek care for ailments that are typically survivable. Some causes of death may be declining, as people stay inside more, drive less and limit their contact with others.

Drug deaths also rose steeply in the first half of 2020, according to preliminary C.D.C. mortality data that runs through June of last year, a trend that began before the coronavirus pandemic arrived.


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/14/us/covid-19-death-toll.html

[uponit7771]

14. +1

[llmart]

10. I don't understand that first sentence.

51% of Michigan's 10 million...

Does the 10 million population include all children under 16? Michigan's government website says almost 67% of Michigan people over 16 have received at least one shot.

I'd rather see them use that number. The 51% figure just emboldens those who are hesitant by making them believe that there is a large number that are just like them - vaccine hesitant.

[Martin68]

11. Shared on FB.

[KG]

15. what more needs to be said to knuckle-dragging america

[homegirl]

17. The anti vaxxers are

behaving like their leader well known "temper tantrum toddler" Donald Trump. Just like small children who are afraid of a vaccination needle, they cry, kick and scream in their resistance. They are frightened, desperate, cowardly children.The males in particular are cowards. Their immature behavior should be publicized!

[oldsoftie]

19. But how can we explain them now that even HE says "get the shot"??

They BOOED him at a large rally in AL when he told them to get it. A week ago he said on Guttfield, the highest rated nighttime show, (paraphrasing) "Get the shot. I got it. It works. its a miracle. Its not perfect but even if you DO get covid you probably wont get very sick". he DOES say "its your choice", but still, he's now telling the minions to get it.
With even HIM saying to get it, how the heck do we figure out the idiocy of these people??

[homegirl]

22. One can wonder...

The Donald and his supporters who crow that he directed the research and production of the vaccine, yet he defiantly removed his mask as he entered the White House after receiving the most expensive and advance treatment for COVID! Donald is not mentally competent and it appears many of his supporters suffer from the same deficiency!

[garybeck]

20. to be honest i'm very surprised there that many breakthrough deaths

330 vaccinated out of 4,400 is over 7% of the deaths are fully vaccinated people.

that is much higher than the numbers i hear.... i've heard many times that 99% of the deaths are non-vaccinated people

[Wingus Dingus]

24. I suspect it's going up because initial vaccine protection is waning among the older folks,

and a lot of them received Pfizer which was a lesser "dose" than the Moderna. I wish they would do studies on which hospitalized/deceased breakthrough cases received which type of vaccine, how much time elapsed, etc.

[onecaliberal]

32. I had the very same thought. That seems like a high death count for those who are fully vaccinated.

[Dukkha]

25. Should have been mandatory to all on day 1

The anti-vaxholes shoulder most of the blame but they will never change. What can and needs to change is who also shoulders some blame: the weak ineffective Democrats who are always trying to walk the fence appease everyone, especially their corporate overlords, by sticking with toothless do-nothing policies. History has repeatedly shown two universal truths: you can never fix stupidity and when the uneducated masses are given freedom of choice they will always make the wrong choice.

[Dukkha]

34. There would of course be exceptions

Based on actual medical science and not "beliefs" in conspiracies or ignorance.

I hope she can get a children's variant. In the mean time stay safe!

[musclecar6]

47. To me

This is the only logical reason to not get vaccinated or a similar very specific medical condition that precludes getting the vaccine. Other than that I can’t think of any reason that someone should not on a technical basis get the vaccine. The anti-VAX or‘s that are still resisting without any kind of sensible reasons, are probably in the camp that can’t admit they’re wrong and so now they are being loyal to an army that doesn’t exist anymore with no good reason. And being loyal to the orange would be Hitler who has gotten the vaccine and said so, is beyond stupidity.

[Hekate]

26. KnR

[Stuart G]

27. k and r for exposure..

[forgotmylogin]

31. "If half of the vaccinated people would convince one person..."

Then 97% would be vaccinated...unless it's the same person.

I get what they're saying, but that's a wonky hypothesis. Yeah, if you have half the people each convince one person in the other half of something, you'd get 100%. Kinda duh...but they are encouraging people to encourage others, which is good.

[ShazzieB]

33. This is nicely done, but I have one problem with it.

I'm not crazy about the idea of making vaccinated people responsible for convincing the unvaxxed to do the right thing. It's not our job!

The more people get vaccinated, the better it is for everybody. I get that. I just don't feel like taking on yet another responsibility, on top of masking, social distancing, and getting myself fully vaxxed.

I don't know what the answer is. Obviously, they need to be convinced, but not all of them are convinceable. I believe there is a subset of the vaccine resistant who might be swayed, using the right approach(es). But I don't know how to do it, and being vaxxed myself actually works AGAINST any credibility I might have with these people.

And getting back to what I said in the beginning, it's not my job to convince stupid people to get vaccinated, and I kind of resent the idea of the Detroit Free Press, or anybody else, telling me it is. As I also said above, I don't know what the answer is. I just don't like the idea of somebody trying to dump this in MY lap and make it MY job, just because I had enough sense to get vaccinated myself.

I will always speak out in favor of getting vaccinated, and I will always encourage people to get their jab if the opportunity presents itself. The recipients of any information I provide will then decide what to do with it. I am NOT responsible for getting them to change their minds.

Maybe I'm just overreacting and being weird about this. I don't know. All I know is how I feel right now, and how I feel is, well, everything I just wrote!

[Hassler]

38. They won't get the vaccine, but Chumplicans will ingest horse dewormer

[Rhiannon12866]

40. This needs to be on the front page of every newspaper in the country

Especially of those in the lowest vaccinated states. The local newspaper here has been good at reporting the latest county Covid news on the front page - yet we still have anti-vaxxers. What does it take to get through??

[napi21]

42. There will always be some people who will NEVER agree to get vaccinated. Their reasons are many &

ALL irrational. I can only wish that 90% of our citizens would get the vaccine because THAT would get us out of this damn pandemic, but we all know that will never happen.

[Rhiannon12866]

45. That's what is so aggravating, we're still in this mess and people are still dying because of this

False information, In Mary Trump's new book, she lays the blame right on TFG since he dismissed the virus as a "hoax," threw aside the Obama 2016 pandemic playbook and refused to promote the vaccine (like our other living presidents). And stubborn MAGAts are still promoting the "hoax."

[Demovictory9]

44. very nice cover

[Rhiannon12866]

46. Rachel Maddow did a terrific job covering and praising this article tonight:

Newspaper Calls On Vaccinated People To Get Family And Friends Vaccinated - Rachel Maddow - MSNBC
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017682700

Rachel Maddow shares an editorial from the Detroit Free Press encouraging vaccinated people to act as ambassadors to unvaccinated friends and family, and to educate themselves in order to better address the questions and concerns of the vaccine reticent. Aired on 09/20/2021.