My mind immediately goes to where the correlation–which appears to be real and based on real data–might come from as obviously they’re not even claiming causation. They mention that people who skip the vax might also ignore other public safety measures, certainly plausible, but my guess is that people who are anti-vax tend to be a bit…angry in general, and perhaps on average, not so bright. I mean, what’s the accident rate of the average Alex Jones listener?
The efficacy of the vaccine was wildly overstated in the beginning, and we have no where near enough data to make any absolute claims.
IMO, the vaccines were a game changer in getting past COVID, but I do not judge anyone who was skeptical of the vaccine, there is way too many inconsistencies in what the alleged “experts” kept saying.
My main problem is why would someone even dream up a reason to try to tie these two things together?
The efficacy data were what they were. Not wildly overstated. The virus mutated, as they always do. The efficacy was reduced over time, but they are still incredibly effective at preventing hospitalization and death. Unfortunately, no more than mediocre at preventing spread, but that’s not the primary goal.
You can’t just say “agenda driven study” and dismiss it. They’re not claiming causation, but the correlation is in the data and there is no indication that it’s not real. The next step is to make educated guesses as to what might be at play. Since it seems unlikely that Covid is causing the car accidents, what other trait(s) are more common in people who aren’t vaxed than in those who are? Education, rural/urban, job type, demographics, make your guesses. Regardless of whether you’re inclined to judge anyone, there’s a reason for the correlation, probably several.
Same with people that have a crappy credit score, are divorced, are low income, live in crappy neighborhoods and have a criminal record, charge them more too.
Nothing was remotely shown to be faulty about the data. The effectiveness changed because the virus changed. The article directly states that they aren’t claiming that Covid or the lack of vax directly caused accidents. They show a correlation.
When I was studying stats, the professor talked about a study in Great Britain showing that counties with more storks had higher birth rates, thus showing that storks really do bring babies. Of course, that’s not what happens, but the point was to have people start asking what’s more common both among counties with more storks and counties with higher birth rates (rural/urban). Same applies here. There’s no indication the correlation isn’t real. The question is what explains it. No one really thinks all those accidents are being caused by Covid-infected drivers who can’t drive in a straight line.
There is actual data showing which race, which socioeconomic group, which neighborhoods, by credit score, etc have the most accidents and fatalities. I wonder if McCarly thinks those groups should also pay higher insurance rates.
When the covid vaccine first came out I had both shots because I thought by doing so I would not get covid again. Then I got my first booster shot because they said the shots I got will only last for a short period of time. The only reason why I got the second booster shot was because I was visiting my husband every day at that time in a skilled nursing facility and I wanted to protect him. Then I decided to get the third booster shot because the previous four did not protect from variants.
Ironically what probably helped me the most was that I had a bad case of covid before covid shots were available.
The best part of covid lockdowns was there was nobody on the road and cops couldn’t pull you over due to fear of getting covid.
I typically speed about 5-10 over. During covid i was closer to 15-25 over. I was typically cruising to work at 90.
I talked to a couple of officers that I know.
The prevailing guideline was to not pull anyone over for license plate violations or outdated “In Transit”, mainly due to the DMV’s being so far backed up.