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While it is evident that vaccination offers strong protection against the coronavirus, scientists are increasingly concerned that those vaccinated are more susceptible to serious illnesses than previously thought.
This growing concern, according to a Bloomberg report, comes amid a dearth of scientific studies with solid answers, leaving policy makers and business leaders with only “fragmented” information on which to base their plans.
As a result, the report says mask terms are being renewed and reopening of offices delayed, while other officials choose to maintain the status quo, citing “lack of clarity” to justify their decisions.
“The anecdotes tell us what the data cannot: People vaccinated appear to contract the coronavirus at a surprisingly high rate,” Bloomberg reported. What is not clear is how often this happens as well as the likelihood that these people will pass the virus on to others.
As Bloomberg reports, people who have been vaccinated are much less likely to need hospital treatment for COVID-19 and much less likely to need to be placed on a ventilator. And those who have received the COVID-19 vaccine are much less likely to die.
But about 30% of adults have yet to be vaccinated. And doctors watch out for infections among those who have been vaccinated.
Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and head of the nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives, said, “We need to be humble about what we know and what we don’t know . “
“There are some things we can say for sure. The first is that this is a difficult question to deal with, ”he added.
The vulnerability of the vaccinee is a key variable.
For those vaccinated, the lack of clear public health messages would have left them confused about how to protect themselves. Their level of vulnerability is a key variable for public health officials as they try to make informed decisions, such as when booster shots might be needed, or whether to ‘cancel reopens in the middle of’. a new wave of viruses ”.
“It’s pretty clear that we have more breakthroughs now,” said Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. “We all know someone who has had one. But we don’t have good clinical data.
The report noted one of the best-known epidemics among those vaccinated to occur in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Thousands of vaccinated and unvaccinated gathered over the weekend of July 4 to celebrate the holiday and what appeared to be “a turning point in the pandemic.” Those vaccinated accounted for about three-quarters of the resulting 469 infections.
Urged on by the incident, the CDC rescinded a recommendation it had issued a few weeks earlier and again urged those vaccinated to mask themselves in certain settings, Bloomberg reported.
There are more questions than answers.
Bloomberg noted “there are simply more questions than answers” right now. Is the delta variant the reason why breakthrough infections are on the rise – or could it be that immunity is waning, or just the result of returning to normal life?
“It’s anyone’s guess.”
“Are people vaccinated more vulnerable to serious illness” than previously thought? “How common are breakthrough infections? Asked the media. “It’s anyone’s guess.”
“It’s generally true that we have to make public health decisions based on imperfect data,” Frieden said. “But there is just a lot of things we don’t know,” Bloomberg quoted.
An extended version of this article can be accessed via Bloomberg.
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