As the US moves closer to mass vaccination against Covid-19, a curious trend has begun on social media and elsewhere: Well-meaning people downplay the benefits of vaccination, often by claiming that vaccinated people still pose a high risk of transmission and that they not doing things like spending time indoors, being exposed around their friends and family.
Not only is this advice unfounded, it’s also self-defeating. Vaccinated people are unlikely to get or spread the virus – especially to other vaccinated people – and should feel free to interact in a more normal way. Suggesting that life shouldn’t change at all after the vaccination is a good way to discourage people on the fence from getting an injection at all.
You don’t have to look far to see this kind vaccine scolding On Twitter, to the point where the argument itself has now become a mature source of it parodyThe same logic has been used to slander some public health experts as well.
Last Monday, Rochelle Walensky, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, went to the Rachel Maddow Show to talk about Covid-19 and the vaccines. At one point, while discussing new CDC research, Walensky said, “ Our data from the CDC today suggests that vaccinated people don’t carry the virus, don’t get sick, and it’s not just in the clinical trials, but also in real life. world data. “
Walensky’s comments were quickly criticized by outside observers, including scientists, if not entirely accurate and therefore irresponsible. A day later, the CDC had to reverse its comments and release the New York Times that “Walensky spoke widely during this interview” and that it was possible “that some fully vaccinated people could get Covid-19.”
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Walensky should have chosen her words more carefully, but the firestorm that emerged around her comments and subsequent framing of the CDC’s walk-back was exaggerated and also inaccurate. The New York Times story For example, the CDC’s new statement had the headline, “Can Vaccinated People Spread the Virus? We don’t know, scientists say. “Technically true, but misleading, given what we are To do know that vaccines largely prevent infection.
The CDC data that Walensky referred found that the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines were not only highly effective in preventing coronavirus disease – the intended target – but also 90% effective in preventing detectable levels of coronavirus infection. Transmission is not possible without infection. Other recent research also has shown that when vaccinated people become infected, they produce lower levels of the virus than unvaccinated carriers, which should reduce their risk of transmission to others. And when Walensky was referring to real-world data, she was probably talking about Israel, where a high vaccination rate has now stopped the spread of the pandemic, in part because the vaccines do. significantly reduce transfer.
Again, Walensky should not have spoken in absolute terms. Some people will still become infected and even get sick after being fully vaccinated – events scientists call breakthrough infections. Sometimes these people can also potentially transmit the virus to others, especially unvaccinated people. Other vaccines, such as the Johnson & Johnson single-dose injection, are relatively less effective than the mRNA vaccines, so that should be made clear as well (although Johnson & Johnson’s one-time injection seems to significantly reduce transmission risk as well).
The CDC accounts for breakthrough cases in its current form guidance for vaccinated people, who says they should still use masks and distance themselves in public and around unvaccinated people who are at high risk for complications from Covid-19. Otherwise, vaccinated people can socialize indoors, unmasked with each other and with a single household of unvaccinated people at a time, and can travel safely, the CDC says.
But while more research will be done to find out how likely fully vaccinated people are to transmit the virus, based on the data so far, this won’t change the overall picture: highly unlikely to spread the virus. Variants are also included in this comparison as none are widely circulated to appear to significantly reduce the effectiveness of our current vaccines in the US
There are definitely times when it is critical to emphasize the uncertainty of important scientific issues and, above all, to act cautiously in the face of that uncertainty. For example, a potentially carcinogenic substance discovered in a drug may be worth removing immediately, even if the exact likelihood of causing 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 be changed for the better after taking a vaccine is not supported by existing science and will likely deter some people from getting the injections.
The reason why US daily cases remain stubbornly high is because there are still millions of unvaccinated people who can spread the virus to other unvaccinated people. The pandemic will abate as more and more of us are vaccinated. Vaccinated people who socialize together will not change this calculation.
None of this is to argue against maintaining current precautions, such as widespread masking in public or avoiding large indoor gatherings. These types of interventions are believed to help curb the level of community’s continued spread, and they should remain in effect until the pandemic finally and clearly loses steam, not before.
But if you really want to do your part in the fight against the pandemic, the best thing to do is do it get vaccinated as soon as possible – don’t scold someone for enjoying the benefits of lab-made immunity.