As the US gets closer and closer to mass vaccination against covid-19, a curious trend began to appear on social media and elsewhere: well-meaning people minimize the benefits of vaccination, often arguing that vaccinated people have still a major risk of transmission and that they should not do things like spend time indoors, unmasked around their friends and family.
Not only is this advice unjustified, but it is also self-defeating. Vaccinated people are unlikely to receive or spread the virus – especially not to other vaccinated people – and should feel free to socialize in a more normal way. Suggesting that life should not change at all after the vaccine is a good way to discourage people on the fence from receiving the shot at all.
Do not have to look away to see this kind of vaccine reprimand on Twitter, to the point where the argument itself has now become a mature source of parody. The same logic has been used to malign some public health experts.
Last Monday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, took part in the Rachel Maddow show to talk about covid-19 and vaccines. At one point, discussing new CDC research, Walensky said: “Our data from the CDC today suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, do not get sick, and that it is not only in clinical trials, but also in reality. the world. ”
Walensky’s comments were soon criticized by outside observers, including scientists, because it is not completely accurate and therefore irresponsible. A day later, the CDC was forced to withdraw its comments, telling him New York Times that “Walensky spoke at length during this interview” and that it was possible “some people who are completely vaccinated to be able to make Covid-19”.
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Walensky should have chosen her words more carefully, but the firestorm that arose around her comments and the subsequent framing of the CDC’s reversal was overworked and also inaccurate. New York Times story the new CDC statement, for example, was entitled: “Can vaccinated people spread the virus? We don’t know, scientists say. “Technically true, but misleading, given what we do do you know, that is, vaccines largely prevent infection.
CDC data that Walensky referred to found that Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines were not only extremely effective in preventing coronavirus disease – the proposed goal – but also 90% effective in preventing detectable levels of coronavirus infection. Without infection, transmission is not possible. Other recent research has also had DISPLAY that when vaccinated people become infected, they produce lower levels of the virus than unvaccinated carriers, which should reduce the risk of transmission to others. And when Walensky referred to real-world data, he was probably talking about Israel, where high vaccine absorption has crushed the spread of the pandemic, in part because of vaccines. significantly reduces transmission.
Again, Walensky shouldn’t have spoken at all. Some people will become infected and even become ill after being completely vaccinated – events that scientists call discovered infections. Sometimes these people could transmit the virus to others, especially to unvaccinated people. Other vaccines, such as the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, are relatively less effective than mRNA vaccines, so they should be clear as well (although the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine seems also to considerably reduce the risk of transmission).
The CDC is currently accounting for discovery cases guidance for vaccinated individuals, who say they should continue to use masks and spacing in public and around unvaccinated individuals who are at high risk for complications from covid-19. Otherwise, vaccinated people can socialize inside unmasked with each other and with a single household of unvaccinated people at a time and can travel safely, says the CDC.
But although more research will be done to find out how likely it is for fully vaccinated people to transmit the virus, it will not change the big picture, based on the data so far: vaccinated people are unlikely to spread the virus. Variants are also included in this equation, as none in wide circulation appear to substantially reduce the effectiveness of our current vaccines in the US
There are absolutely times when it is essential to emphasize the uncertainty of important scientific issues and to act particularly cautiously in the light of that uncertainty. A carcinogenic potential found in a drug, for example, may be worth eliminating immediately, even if the exact chances of causing cancer are not yet known, as the risk could be high. But telling people that they will still be in danger or that their lives should not change for the better after getting a vaccine is not supported by existing science and is likely to take some people away from taking pictures.
The reason why daily cases in the US remain stubborn is that there are still millions of unvaccinated people able to spread the virus to other unvaccinated people. The pandemic will go away as more and more of us are vaccinated. Vaccinated people who socialize together will not change this calculation.
None of this is meant to argue against maintaining current precautions, such as widespread masking in public or avoiding large gatherings indoors. Such interventions should help to reduce the level of continued Community spread and should remain in place until the pandemic loses steam permanently and clearly, not before.
But if you really want to play your part in fighting the pandemic, the best thing to do is do it. get vaccinated as soon as you can – don’t argue with anyone who enjoys the benefits of laboratory immunity.