John Ümit Palabıyık
Assistant Professor at Framingham State University, Boston
First of all, America is rapidly heading towards full opening. In fact, 4-5 states (most of them run by Republican governors) have fully returned to pre-COVID-19 conditions. The most discussed of these are Florida and Texas, for there is an incredible density and anti-COVID-19 in these states. It was impossible to find a hotel in Florida two weeks ago in particular. I know it personally since we searched for a hotel from Orlando to Miami from 10 pm to 3 am and could not find it.
~ All the more amazing, these states are not worse than other states.
~ Half of the American people have been vaccinated. 121 million people (37.5% of the population) got the first vaccine. 75.5 million (23% of the population) got the second vaccine.
~ In the US 4 million people were vaccinated, whereas people in Turkey were celebrating the arrival of 1.5 million Pfizer vaccine. The rate of vaccination in a single day is over 2 million.
More than 3 million people were vaccinated within 3 days in a row last week.
~ All US citizens have won the right to get vaccinated. We are waiting for our turn. Sometimes they post daily social media messages on the internet for vaccines that remain due to planning. There was a similar one today. The news is in the link below.
~ Alaska stipulated that anyone who enters the state should be vaccinated. They vaccinate those who do not have the vaccine at the state entrances, otherwise, they do not allow them to enter the state.
~ In New York, the number of non-New Yorkers who came to the state to get vaccinated is more than the minorities in New York combined. That is, there is an unfair distribution.
~ 35% of the navy refuses to be vaccinated. It is estimated that this rate will decrease over time.
~ As we guessed, the new administration creates a completely different atmosphere in America. Its effects will be seen all over the world. The most obvious example is that they plan to launch a vaccination campaign around the world as soon as the USA is finished. They think they should do this to become world leaders again. Another reason – even if it is a little bit selfish – is that they think they will not be free before the world is done.
~ It has been reported that they have solved the border crisis (or rather postponed it or calmed it down) by giving Mexico vaccines. Republicans claim that Mexico was given a vaccine bribe.
~ Despite such success in the vaccine, there is an increase in the number of cases. An average of 75 thousand people per day are catching Covid-19. They, by contrast, are successful in terms of death rates. For the first time in a long time, the daily death toll fell below a thousand people –this week’s average. (It will likely drop below 500 soon.)
~ The state in the worst situation is Michigan. The governor (democrat) wants an urgent unlimited vaccine, but the administration refuses. Because they lifted all bans and they refuse to put a ban again. If you look at the profile of the province, their situation will be clearer.
~ Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson vaccine production has been stopped in the entire USA. The management says that this situation will not slow down them. They say they will vaccinate the whole of America until July 4. I think this year will be a great celebration on July 4. It will be a great propaganda day.
~ 6.8 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been shot so far, 6 people have been hospitalized due to blood clots. One is dead, the other is in critical condition. All of those who developed blood clots are women between the ages of 18 and 48. They say the problem is likely with fertility, birth control, and hormones. They are not so sure as there is not enough data. They are considering the alternative to thinning the blood, but the idea is not very popular. They say that women between the ages of 18-48 who have received the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine should follow them closely for 2 weeks.
~ At the same time, they say that nearly 10 different companies in the USA have developed vaccines and that the developing vaccine type is around 80 all over the world.
~ Another interesting news is about freedoms. It is forbidden to gather more than 3 families in a house in California. Various religious groups, who said they had gathered in houses and prayed, appealed to the court and were victorious. The court annulled this law.
~ Finally, a piece of news from my field: In cruises it is required to be vaccinated. They are planning a system where the vaccinated people can easily eat in the closed parts of the restaurants. Aircraft companies and hotels strongly oppose the vaccine requirement.
~ In order to eliminate the flaws in vaccination, it was proposed to switch to the reservation system used by aircraft and hotel companies in the vaccine reservation system (“Revenue management” or Dynamic Pricing ”) or to develop a similar system. To summarize, they say use “Overbooking” and “Auction” tactics.