As the U.S. moves closer to mass vaccination at covid-19 speed, a strange trend has begun to appear on social media and elsewhere: well-meaning people who underestimate the benefits of vaccination, often by arguing that vaccinated people still carry a high transmission risk implies that they should not do things like spend time indoors unmasked around their friends and family.
This advice is not only unfounded, but it is also self-destructive. Vaccines are unlikely to get or spread the virus – especially not to other vaccines – and should be able to socialize in a more normal way. The suggestion that life should not change to the vaccine at all is a great way to discourage people on the fence from getting the chance.
You do not have to look far to see this kind vaccination on Twitter, to the point where the argument has now become a ripe source of parody. The same logic is also used to denigrate some public health experts.
Last Monday, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky spoke at the Rachel Maddow Show about covid-19 and the vaccines. At one point, during the discussion of new CDC research, Walensky said: ‘Our data from the CDC today indicate that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, do not get sick, and that it is not only in the clinical tests are not, but also in reality. world data. ”
Walensky’s comments were soon criticized by outside observers, including scientists, if not completely accurate and therefore irresponsible. A day later, the CDC had to return her comments and tell the message New York Times that ‘Walensky spoke broadly during this interview’ and that it was possible ‘that some people who were fully vaccinated could get Covid-19.’
G / O Media can get a commission
Walensky should have chosen her words more carefully, but the firestorm that appeared around her comments and the subsequent drafting of the CDC’s return was also overwhelming and inaccurate. The New York Times story on the CDC’s new statement, for example, was the headline: “Can vaccinated people spread the virus? We do not know, say scientists. ‘Technically true, but misleading, given what we do know, it is that vaccines largely prevent infection.
The CDC data that Walensky refer found that the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines were not only very effective in preventing coronavirus diseases – but also their intended purpose – but also 90% effective in completely preventing detectable levels of coronavirus infection. Without infection, transmission is not possible. Other recent research has also showed that when vaccinated people do become infected, they produce lower levels of the virus than non-vaccinated carriers, which should reduce their risk of transmission to others. And when Walensky referred to real data, she was probably talking about Israel, where the uptake of the vaccine has now shattered the spread of the pandemic, in part because the vaccines significantly reduced transmission.
Again, Walensky should not have spoken absolutely. Some people will still become infected and even get sick after being completely vaccinated – events that scientists call breakthrough infections. Sometimes these people can also transmit the virus to others, especially non-vaccinated people. Other vaccines, such as the Johnson & Johnson single-dose shot, are relatively less effective than the mRNA vaccines, so this should also be made clear (although Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot look like to also significantly reduce the transfer risk).
The CDC is responsible for the breakthrough of affairs guidance for vaccinated, who say they should still use masks and distance in public and around non-vaccinated who are at high risk for covid-19 complications. Otherwise, vaccinated can be indoors socially, unmasked with each other and with a single household of unvaccinated people at the same time, and they can travel safely, the CDC says.
But while more research will be done to determine how likely people who have been fully vaccinated will transmit the virus, it will not change the whole picture, based on the data so far: highly unlikely to spread the virus. There are also variants in this equation as there is not a wide circulation appear to significantly reduce the effectiveness of our current vaccines in the US
There are absolute times when it is critical to emphasize the uncertainty of important scientific issues and to act especially cautiously in the light of that uncertainty. A potential carcinogen discovered in a drug, for example, may be worth taking out right away, even if the exact chance that it causes cancer is not yet known, as the risk may be high. But telling people that they will still be in danger or that their lives should not change for the better after taking a vaccine is not supported by existing science and will probably prevent some people from getting the shots. .
The reason why daily cases in the US remain stubbornly high is because there are still millions of unvaccinated people who can spread the virus to others who have not been vaccinated. The pandemic will disappear as more and more of us are vaccinated. Vaccines who hang out together are not going to change this calculation.
None of this is intended to argue against maintaining current precautions such as widespread masking in public or to avoid large indoor gatherings. These kinds of interventions are supposed to lower the level of ongoing community spread, and they need to stay in place until the pandemic finally and clearly no longer loses steam.
But if you really want to make your contribution to fighting the pandemic, it’s best to do so. should be vaccinated as soon as possible – do not scold someone for enjoying the benefits of laboratory-made immunity.