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Last week, for a brief moment, the CDC seemed to give us the news we were waiting for: referring to the actual study of nearly 4,000 vaccinated individuals, the director of the agency, dr. Rochelle Walensky, said Monday that “our data … suggests … that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, do not get sick” and therefore, since so many headlines are extrapolated, COVID-19 cannot transmit or spread. But scientists were quick to point out that the New York Times, and the CDC itself later refuted Walensky’s comments. The conclusion? We simply do not know yet, say the experts. Although the data are clear that coronavirus vaccines, regardless of brand name, are very good at preventing serious illness and death, it is not clear how well they actually prevent infection – and if a vaccinated person can still become infected, they still spread the virus.
Experts have pointed out that none of the vaccines are 100% effective, and Walensky’s comments may lead some to think so. It is important to correct the statistics, they say, because if people mistakenly believe that the vaccines are 100% effective, they can stop taking public health measures such as wearing masks. And then there is the issue of variants that are increasingly spreading around the world – and, in the case of some, they may evade the vaccine. At 21 universities, including the University of Colorado Boulder, a study aimed at determining whether the Moderna vaccine prevents the transmission of COVID. An epidemiologist told Quartz last month that he was estimating an answer to the question over the next few months, and the website provides an overview of a number of vaccination studies at the population level that are currently underway. (Read more stories about coronavirus vaccination.)