Was it preventable? Almost certainly. Final score is Trump Administration: 0.5 - Biden Administration: A lot more!
It's the summer, time for some reading that will help you pass time at the beach, the lake house, or simply at home. This one is quite a something. Well worth it.
Trump can get a little bit of credit for encouraging Operation Warp Speed. This helped get the vaccines across the line much faster than might otherwise have been the case. It's not 100% clear if this could have happened in an alternative universe without Operation Warp Speed. Unfortunately the majority of the good people that were in the Trump administration got muzzled or if they tried to talk realistically about the issues facing the nation, then they were eventually shown the door. Therefore on that front, Trump gets 0.5 points.
Since then, the vaccines have been rolled out at warp speed and the US is a global leader in this race. As such, we are now getting closer and closer to normal, a lot faster than I would have imagined (see past blog post:
https://thrivingwithinterest.blogspot.com/2021/05/how-quickly-do-we-get-back-to-post.html). Here is a snapshot of where we stand:
thanks Google.
The Biden administration deserves a lot of credit for this effective rollout. The US went from less than 1mil doses a day to close to 3mil a day at the peak. This was thanks to a full court press effort by the Biden administration. Leaders can learn a lot from how the US went from the laughing stock of how we dealt with the pandemic to how we became a leader in a few short weeks/months. We need to remember that we are a great country, but the don't have all of the answers and the we need help from others. Let's get people invested in this effort and help us continue to lead the world.
The problem is that we are now plateauing out and the question is how can we make sure we get past the finish line (if there ever was one) rather than stumble prior to that point. A lot has been written about the red state, blue state divide. This may be the case, but it's probably a lot more the case that it's an educated vs not so educated divide. So the way we get there is this:
- Acknowledge the job well done: Most people above 60 have taken the vaccine (80%+), over 30's its (70%+), so we need to get the 25 and below cohort to get on board;
- Increase the marketing/education of the benefits of the vaccine: because most people are used to vaccines, so it's a matter of making it more available;
- Make it a fun and rewarding thing to do: Increased number of contests, inclusion in apps, etc...; and lastly
- Do not talk down to people who are a bit hesitant about it: Many of us believe that the risks of not taking the vaccine are much higher than if you do take it. However if someone believes that the vaccine can cause adverse effects (no one truly knows about the long term effects), let's say that could be the the case, but it could be a lot worse if you don't.
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