The pandemic has killed more than 650 thousand Americans and completely upended daily life in the United States. The deadlier, more contagious Delta variant and potential future variants threaten to undo the year of progress made in getting the virus under control.
Yet many on the right continue to dismiss the threat posed by the virus. Far-right media personalities have launched deranged efforts to discredit lifesaving vaccines, which have repeatedly proven to be safe and effective. As a result, millions of Americans remain willfully unvaccinated. Thousands are needlessly dying.
A common talking point from vaccine skeptics is that vaccinated people can still contract the virus. While every vaccine has breakthrough infections, these pale in comparison to the chances of an unvaccinated person getting infected. What's more, a vaccinated person has a much higher chance of survival than an unvaccinated person.
TikToker hill_deeee, whose real name is Hillary, combatted some of this disinformation in a recent video, when someone claimed that 99 percent of people survive the virus, regardless of vaccination status.
Watch below
@hill_deeee Answer to @semaj31273 As requested. ❤️ #fuckcovid #endthis #together #doyourpart
♬ original sound - Hillary
Hillary, whose father passed from COVID, broke down the numbers:
"330 million people in the United States, right? Divide that by the 41 million COVID cases that we've had, and that gives you a one in eight chance of getting COVID in the United States. ... Of those 41 million people, you've had 670 thousand or so deaths. That's a one in 61. ... One in 61 people who have gotten COVID in the United States have died."
She then set her sights on breakthrough infections.
"There are 173 million people who are fully vaccinated in the United States. Do you know how many breakthrough cases there have been? As of August 30, there's been 12,908. That gives you a one in 13,402 chances of catching COVID if you are fully vaccinated."
Using similar math, she pointed out that the chances of a fully vaccinated person with a breakthrough infection dying from COVID are one in 86,000+.
People praised the takedown of the all too common disinformation, and encouraged others to get the shot.
After all, numbers don't lie.
The right continues to rail against the Biden Administration's efforts to encourage more vaccinations.
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