By Dr. Bill Honigman, Healthcare Human Rights, Coordinator – Progressive Democrats of America

COVID & MFA REALITY CHECK

989,729 Total COVID19 deaths in US to date*

395,891 US COVID19 deaths prevented with MFA**

*Harvard University Daily Tracker

**Lancet Commission, Feb 2021

This is now our 115th weekly PDA Online Town Hall since #COVID19 first hit the US in the spring of 2020, and today once again, we must report that the United States continues as the world’s leader in total deaths due to this disease. 

A mind boggling 989,729 of us in America have now died from COVID19.  That’s 2,467 more lives claimed just this week.  And once again, according to public health experts and social scientists that means that an estimated 395,891 now of those total U.S. pandemic deaths would have been prevented, and those lost loved ones still alive today, if we had a #SinglePayer expanded and improved #MedicareForAll system of Universal Healthcare in this country.

The U.S. currently is thought to be only 66.5% fully vaccinated.  That puts us ranked in the world at No. 62 – just behind Nepal and just ahead of Nicaragua.  Nowhere near a world leader in this most basic public health function, despite our relative wealth. 

And Alabama continues as the worst U.S. state in total population fully vaccinated, at only 51%, now 8.6 percentage points behind the global average of 59.6% of the world’s population fully vaxxed.  This, as a new analysis released just this week from the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation concluded that a quarter of these nearly 1 million U.S. COVID deaths were in fact vaccine preventable.

While world cases of COVID19 and its variants continue in general to decline this week, overall cases in the U.S. showed yet increasing numbers, prompting mask mandates and isolation measures to be reimposed at least in some areas.  However, a battle of edicts between the CDC and a Trump-appointed judge over the issue of masks to be worn in public transportation settings, has proven to be yet another challenge of leadership to the Biden/Harris administration and their Justice Department.

The bottom line, as we approach the somber 1 million dead mark of this pandemic, with some 400,000 of those deaths objectively preventable, is that we in the U.S. continue to suffer under COVID19 from medical mismanagement and misinformation, and a failure of political leadership to take the necessary corrective action.  All because those proprietary, profit-first interests of the status quo stand protected by our perverse politics of privilege.

It’s past time to challenge that paradigm.  Onward to Medicare for All and Healthcare Justice!

BTW, next week’s PDA Sunday Progressive Town Hall once again will focus on the issue of Healthcare Justice, and feature champion of Medicare for All, candidate for Congress Amy Vilela NV-01.  So, join us on Sunday May 1^st May Day 4p ET / 1p PT, register here.

RSVP HERE for the next PDA Sunday Progressive Town Hall, Sundays, 4pm ET.

Watch the previous PDA Healthcare Emergency Town Halls here.

Watch the previous PDA Sunday Progressive Town Halls here.