Here's another question that won't be sent to Dr. Fauci: Booster shots or N95 masks for older folks? -- DRAFT

Last update: Wednesday 5/11/22 

As quoted in a previous note on this blog ("Why are we wasting most of our vaccines?"), those 85 and older suffered more than 26 percent of all of the deaths from COVID in the U.S. since the pandemic began, 13 times the deaths expected given their 2 percent share of the U.S. population.

The same table showed that persons who were 65 to 74, suffered 22.7 percent of COVID deaths, which was less than three times their 9.6 percent share of the population. The oldest were therefore more than four times as vulnerable as those who were only ten years younger. The CDC's COVID Data Tracker page reports that almost 91 percent of the overarching 65 and over age group are vaccinated and that 69 percent the vaccinated are also boosted. Moreover this group is the most highly vaccinated and boosted age group in the country. 

Unfortunately, this CDC page does not report the percent of persons who received vaccinations and boosters in the subgroups, i.e., 65 to 74, 75 to 84, and 85 and over. 

Assuming that all three subgroups were vaccinated and boosted at more of less the same levels, we should infer that vaccines and boosters are substantially less effective for those 85 and older than for younger subgroups from 65 to 74 on down. An Omicron infection can be asymptomatic or mild for persons in younger age groups, e.g., our doubly boosted Vice President Harris, age 51. By contrast,  infections of the oldest members of our society are far more likely to be fatal. 

• "Vice President Harris Tests Positive for Coronavirus", Peter Baker and Aishvarya Kavi, NY Times, 4/28/22

So the question we might send to "Dear Dr. Fauci" today is straight-forward: Should the oldest members of our society get boosted or just wear properly fitted N95 masks in all public indoor spaces? 

Rather than bother the busy doctor -- who some of you may know is an avid reader of this blog, yes, every day and twice on Sundays, really, twice on Sundays -- we will channel his response from his recent emphatic public utterances. 

• "White House correspondents’ dinner: Biden jokes about return to near-normal", Paul Farhi, Washington Post,  5/1/22 ...  Note: Dr. Fauci, 81, did not attend 'because of my individual assessment of my personal risk'", but President Biden, 79, did attend without a mask
• "Fauci privately miffed about the message sent by the WHCA dinner", Adam Cancryn, Politico, 5/4/22 

Yes ... his response is coming ... is coming ... loudly and clearly ... in two bullets:

• "Do both. Get boosted and always wear N95 masks in public indoor spaces. Boosters may not be as effective as we would like them to be for older recipients, but they can't hurt."
• "Don't attend large indoor public meetings, not even with an N95 mask."

There, you read what the good doctor had to say on this blog today, and you'll probably read about it again in the Washington Post and Politico tomorrow .... :-)

All kidding aside, the "Fauci" bullets merely say what the CDC data implies, i..e.,  if you are older and risk averse. And one more implication: consider wearing a properly fitted N95 mask if you are younger whenever you visit your oldest relatives because you may have been infected by Omicron and not know it yet.

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Links to related notes on this blog:  

• "Why are we wasting most of our vaccines?", Last update: 5/9/22
• "Dear Dr. Fauci, Please provide me with a candid response to a personal COVID question", Last update: 5/9/22