AP-NORC poll: Virus fears linger for vaccinated older adults

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) — Bronwyn Russell wears a mask anytime she leaves her Illinois home, though she wouldn’t dream of going out to eat or to hear a band play, much less setting foot on a plane. In Virginia, Oliver Midgette rarely dons a mask, never lets COVID-19 rouse any worry and happily finds himself in restaurants and among crowds. She is vaccinated. He is not.

In a sign of the starkly different way Americans view the coronavirus pandemic, vaccinated older adults are far more worried about the virus than the unvaccinated and far likelier to take precautions despite the protection afforded by their shots, according to a new poll out Wednesday from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. While growing numbers of older unvaccinated people are planning travel, embracing group gatherings and returning to gyms and houses of worship, the vaccinated are hunkering down.

“I’m worried. I don’t want to get sick,” says Russell, a 58-year-old from Des Plaines, Illinois, who is searching for part-time work while collecting disability benefits. “The people who are going about their lives are just in their own little bubbles of selfishness and don’t believe in facts.” As the virus’ delta variant has fueled new waves of infection, the poll of people age 50 or older found 36% are very or extremely worried that they or a family member will be infected, roughly doubled since June. The increase is fueled by the vaccinated, who are especially likely to be highly worried. Just 25% of vaccinated Americans, but 61% of unvaccinated Americans, say they are not worried.

That worry is taking a toll: Those concerned about COVID-19 are less likely to rate their quality of life, mental and emotional health, and social activities and relationships as excellent or very good. The dichotomy is at once peculiar and pedestrian: Though the unvaccinated stand most at risk of infection, their refusal of the shots shows many are convinced the threat is overblown.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-lifestyle-health-illinois-e2d3f24eb72fd6aaa7074f5d3ac8754a

---

Link to the poll summary - https://apnorc.org/projects/coronavirus-worries-and-social-isolation-among-older-adults/

Link to top line summary (PDF) - https://apnorc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/APNORC-LTC-Social-Isolation-Topline-Final.pdf

Link to the poll report (PDF) - https://apnorc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/APNORC_Social_isolation_report.pdf

Link to results chart - https://apnorc.org/visualizing-coronavirus-worries-and-social-isolation-among-older-adults/

[OnlinePoker]

1. They have a good reason to worry.

Earlier this month here in a suburb of Victoria, BC, an outbreak occurred at a care home where all the residents and 95% of the staff had been fully vaccinated. Staff and residents were infected. 6 of the residents died.

[Elessar Zappa]

2. That's an anomaly.

95% of deaths are still the unvaccinated.

[OnlinePoker]

3. I still wouldn't want to be in the 5% who die and are vaccinated.

I'm saying you still have to be concerned even if you are vaccinated, and especially in the elderly where the disease is most dangerous.

[appleannie1]

4. I am vaccinated, always wear a mask and my perfume of choice is hand sanitizer.

Since Delta, I have gone back to wiping down my groceries before bringing them in the house. I carry a small spray bottle of alcohol in my purse in case I have to use a public restroom. I live in a rural area where people walk around like nothing is going on and now with Delta, some have already gone 6' under. They were some of my kids ages. I am well on the 80 side of 75 and have 7 stents in my body. It pisses me off that the years I looked forward to enjoying by visiting out of state loved ones is fast disappearing without it happening because of the selfishness of the unvaccinated. I am going for my booster this week and plan on traveling for Thanksgiving, COVID or not. I ate alone last year and am not doing it this year. I will be in a big, modern cabin in the woods with others that are vaccinated.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. Exactly. My vaccinated FIL is close to death as we speak.

My husband just called and his dad just asked his mom if she was ready to put him down . He's been in a hospital rehab center for a couple weeks now half paralyzed

Irks the hell out of me when people just brush that off as oh only this many people die. It's very disrespectful to me

[hamsterjill]

10. I agree.

I’m so sorry about your FIL.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

13. Thanks. The absolute

Worse part is no visitors except two caregivers. My husband's going out there now to do the outside the window call.

[ananda]

5. I am one of those people. However ...

I know a lot of older adults who are not
afraid of being in group gatherings with
other vaccinated people.

I probably wouldn't be either -- for myself --
but I would worry about getting an
asymptomatic case of delta (or later) and
accidentally passing it on to someone who
is either vulnerable or might pass it on to
unvaxxed children.

So I'm pretty much hunkered down except
for my weekly grocery store visit.

[gordianot]

6. I got my Pfizer booster Monday.

My Physician did not see the need 3 weeks ago. I did it anyway.

[cannabis_flower]

9. I'm in a dilemma

Fully vaccinated, I was in the original Pfizer study and last month they asked me if I wanted to be in the booster study but of course I got the booster or a placebo. Now that it’s approved for my group, do I just wait. Do I call them and see if I can be unblinded so I could know whether I had the shot or not? I think (based on side effects that I got the booster, but it could be just my imagination).

[BumRushDaShow]

11. I would call the sponsor

to get advice. I expect you are not the only one who is interested about how to handle the EUA for boosters.

It's possible they could even devise a time-interval-associated cohort where if you had received a placebo, they could give you a booster now to continue a longer term study. And if you did get the booster, then they could just go ahead and unblind you and report the results that they have to date or add you to any other unblinded cohorts.

[gordianot]

12. I know two break through cases from March.

They were mild but anyway I want some contact with Grandchildren.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. I always reference when Pfizer alerted FDA & CDC back in April

about the possible need for a booster. I took it as them seeing that data starting to come in back that far - whether from the study group or from the earliest adopters in December.

They were waved away back then, but the data was eventually presented publicly over the past couple weeks showing the waning of effectiveness of their particular candidate vaccine agent (and not just seen in the Israeli data but also seen in other types of observational data collections).

I suppose some might have suspected since they were getting $$$$ for doses, their early heads-up about the need for a possible booster was just a money grab, but I think they were trying to stave off some kind of future P.R. nightmare or even liability.

Realistically, it's true that the minimum VE ("Vaccine Effectiveness" ) acceptable for approvals by FDA & CDC are in the 50% and above range, so it is incredible that these mRNA ones have performed so well right out of the gate. Having one "drop" from a 95% effective to the high 70%s to high 80%s, is literally like splitting hairs. And what has been shoe-horned into the term "breakthrough", is actually a normal occurrence for any vaccine - they are not "shields" for contracting an actual infection.

However the concern with COVID-19 is its potential lethal, if not often debilitating outcome for some who do contract it, particularly the more vulnerable populations.

[wnylib]

15. The "debilitating outcome" is often overlooked

when people cite figures on the low number of deaths in the vaccinated.

Of course death is the worst possible outcome. But for people who survive but have permanent organ damage, regardless of age, their lives are forever changed.

If death were not a possibility, or at least not likely with this virus, there would still be a problem of debilitating after effects for some and permanent lung, heart, kidney, or liver damage for others, as well as cognitive functioning problems. Who wants to get an illness that leaves behind it those kinds of complications?

Polio death numbers were much lower than covid deaths are today. Yet, everyone feared the crippling effects of polio enough to work at eradicating it.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Exactly

A year ago I was reading some local articles - all before the vaccines - where some who contracted it ended up on dialysis. That was during the time when they were discovering how and where it was attaching internally, to cause that type of damage.

The coronavirus is damaging kidneys. Doctors worry that some survivors will need dialysis forever.

by Stacey Burling
Published Aug 23, 2020

When the new coronavirus stormed the Northeast this year, Alan Kliger, a Yale University kidney specialist, thought it would behave like a typical respiratory virus.There had been signals from China that the new disease was hard on kidneys, but nephrologists like Kliger were not prepared for what happened when cases surged in New York. So many patients suffered kidney injury that dialysis supplies ran short.

Two studies of New York patients found that 68% to 76% of intensive-care patients with COVID-19 had kidney damage. In one, a third of ICU patients needed dialysis, a process in which a machine performs the kidney’s blood-filtering work. “The amount of acute injury and failure was unexpected and dramatic,” said Kliger, cochair of the American Society of Nephrology’s COVID-19 Response Team.

It is too early to know whether survivors of serious COVID-19 will have long-lasting kidney damage, but doctors are worried. “People are just waking up to the fact that the kidney is an unappreciated manifestation [of COVID-19] but one that is pretty important,” said Girish Nadkarni, a nephrologist and researcher at Mount Sinai Health System in New York. “There might be an epidemic of post-coronavirus kidney disease coming.”

https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid-kidneys-dialysis-mount-sinai-northwell-nephrologist-20200823.html

That's when the ACE2 receptor connection was made and when one maps where those receptors are located and to what degree, you begin to make the connections to the types of symptoms people were presenting with.

What is the ACE2 receptor, how is it connected to coronavirus and why might it be key to treating COVID-19? The experts explain

May 14, 2020 8.04am EDT
Authors

Krishna Sriram
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Diego

Paul Insel
Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine, University of California San Diego

Rohit Loomba
Professor of Medicine, University of California San Diego

In the search for treatments for COVID-19, many researchers are focusing their attention on a specific protein that allows the virus to infect human cells. Called the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, or ACE2 “receptor,” the protein provides the entry point for the coronavirus to hook into and infect a wide range of human cells. Might this be central in how to treat this disease?

We are scientists with expertise in pharmacology, molecular biology and biochemistry, with a strong commitment to applying these skills to the discovery of novel therapies for human disease. In particular, all three authors have experience studying angiotensin signaling in various disease settings, a biochemical pathway that appears to be central in COVID-19. Here are some of the key issues to understand about why there’s so much focus on this protein.

What is the ACE2 receptor?

ACE2 is a protein on the surface of many cell types. It is an enzyme that generates small proteins – by cutting up the larger protein angiotensinogen – that then go on to regulate functions in the cell. Using the spike-like protein on its surface, the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds to ACE2 – like a key being inserted into a lock – prior to entry and infection of cells. Hence, ACE2 acts as a cellular doorway – a receptor – for the virus that causes COVID-19.

Where in the body is it found?

ACE2 is present in many cell types and tissues including the lungs, heart, blood vessels, kidneys, liver and gastrointestinal tract. It is present in epithelial cells, which line certain tissues and create protective barriers. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the lungs and blood vessels occurs across this epithelial lining in the lung. ACE2 is present in epithelium in the nose, mouth and lungs. In the lungs, ACE2 is highly abundant on type 2 pneumocytes, an important cell type present in chambers within the lung called alveoli, where oxygen is absorbed and waste carbon dioxide is released.

https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-ace2-receptor-how-is-it-connected-to-coronavirus-and-why-might-it-be-key-to-treating-covid-19-the-experts-explain-136928

When early on, some people were reporting bouts of diarrhea (ACE2 receptors are located around the digestive system), it was dismissed. They only wanted to accept the existence of the traditional "flu like" symptoms like a cough or fever. As time went on, more and more types of symptoms - like what is now one of the most common - "loss of taste and smell" - were finally added to the list. It took time to find the kidney problems, strokes caused by thousands of tiny blood clots (where those were also impacting cogniitve functions), and heart inflammation.

It's literally becomes the luck of the draw regarding how one's body is impacted based on the viral load, where that load manages to travel to within the body before it latches on to a suitable receptor site, although obviously the respiratory system (nose/mouth/throat/lungs) are the closest places for it to get to, and how fast the body's immune system can react to neutralize the virus.

[ShazzieB]

7. I'm getting my booster on Sunday.

I'm an older adult who is definitely worried about covid, more so for my husband (he's higher risk), but also for myself. VERY happy to be getting the booster!

[SergeStorms]

17. Count me in as being very worried....

about contracting a break through viral infection.

I got my 3rd Pfizer booster Tuesday, and I was a little achy yesterday, but that just let's me know it's working.

I'm very careful about wearing masks when in public places, and I'd kill myself if I gave COVID to any of my grandchildren under 12. I couldn't live with myself.

I've also had my flu vaccine, and both of my Shingrix vaccinations this year. It's been one helluva year for vaccinations, and I've yet to turn magnetic, have my testicles swell up, or talk to Bill Gates from the fillings in my teeth.

I keep waiting for all of these weird side effects to take place, but all I get is immunity to these horrible diseases. I feel like I'm getting short changed.

[TheFarseer]

18. I see the email from the Health Department

every day: usually something like, We lost 4 people yesterday, a vaccinated woman in her 80’s, an unvaccinated man in his 30’s, an unvaccinated man in his 40’s and an unvaccinated woman in her 50’s. So I know older people are still in a lot of danger from this even vaccinated. However, I can’t recall seeing a young vaccinated person dying recently.