Covid Brief Sept. 30 -- Despite 50 Percent Vax Rate 'Herd Immunity' is Far Off

On Thursday morning’s Covid Brief vaccination efficacy, herd immunity, and booster shots were the topics of the day, as Alaska continues to lead the nation in coronavirus infection rates. It was the same day that the vaccination rate on the Kenai Peninsula reached 50 percent.
    Alaska Public Health Nurse Lorne Carroll took this question from a caller.
    “If you combine the number of people who are vaccinated with those who’ve had Covid, shouldn’t we be near herd immunity in Homer?”
    “Out of a total population of around 14,000 people, we've had about 1,900 cases total since the beginning of the pandemic in March about 20 months ago. So in terms of people who are fully vaccinated, there's been about 7,500 of those folks completed that. So if you add those up, 7,500 to about 2,000, roughly that's that's still under 10,000,” Carroll said. “So there's 4,000 folks out there in Southern Kenai Peninsula with zero immunity.”
    Though there are a small number of “break-through” cases, vaccinated victims of the disease are far more likely to have better outcomes than an unvaccinated person would, and, Carroll said, have a longer immune response.
    “People that get infected have pretty good protection against COVID-19, including the Delta variant for about 90 days more or less,” he said. “But the protection from the vaccine, especially the mRNA vaccine last very well, up to and beyond eight months with pretty good protection thereafter.”
    South Peninsula Hospital’s Derotha Ferraro says booster shots for people who completed the Pfizer inoculations at least six months ago are coming soon.
    “If you were fully vaccinated by Pfizer, then you would be eligible for a booster,” she said. “If you are 65 years of age and older, if you are an adult in the 50 to 64 years of age with underlying medical condition, if you're a resident of 18 years or older living in a longterm care setting, that group there it is recommended that they should go ahead and get a boost.”
    SPH will have a special Pfizer booster mass-vaccination event on October 15 at Homer High School. Appointments are required and are available on the SPH website.
    And while Alaska’s case rate continues to skyrocket, leading the nation in infection rates, there’s been a recent downturn in Lower 48 cases, according to Carroll.
    “Nationwide, we’re seeing a decrease of 26 percent and in the newly reported cases, but in Alaska, we're seeing an increase of 84 percent,” he said.