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– Last week, for a moment it seemed as if the CDC gave us the news we had been waiting for: With regard to the real-world study of nearly 4,000 vaccinated individuals, the agency’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said Monday that “our data … suggest … that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, do not get sick “and thus, as many headlines are extrapolated, cannot transmit or spread COVID-19. But scientists quickly pushed back that claim to the New York Times, and the CDC itself later backed down Walensky’s comments. It comes down to? We just don’t know yet, the experts say. While the data is clear that coronavirus vaccines, regardless of brand, are good at preventing serious illness and death, it’s not clear how well they actually prevent infection – and if a vaccinated person can still become infected, they can still spreading the virus. .
Experts pointed out that none of the vaccines are 100% effective, and Walensky’s comments might lead some to think they are. It’s important to get that statistic correct, they say, because if people mistakenly believe the vaccines are 100% effective, they can stop taking public health measures like wearing masks. And then there’s the matter of variants, which are increasingly spreading around the world – and, in the case of some, potentially bypassing the vaccine. A study at 21 universities, including the University of Colorado Boulder, aims to determine whether the Moderna vaccine prevents the transmission of COVID. An epidemiologist told Quartz last month that he estimates an answer to the question in “the coming months,” and the site provides an overview of a number of population-level vaccine studies that are currently underway. (Read more stories about coronavirus vaccines.)