At the country-level, there appears to be no discernable relationship between percentage of population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases in the last 7 days (Fig. 1). In fact, the trend line suggests a marginally positive association such that countries with higher percentage of population fully vaccinated have higher COVID-19 cases per 1 million people. Notably, Israel with over 60% of their population fully vaccinated had the highest COVID-19 cases per 1 million people in the last 7 days. The lack of a meaningful association between percentage population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases is further exemplified, for instance, by comparison of Iceland and Portugal. Both countries have over 75% of their population fully vaccinated and have more COVID-19 cases per 1 million people than countries such as Vietnam and South Africa that have around 10% of their population fully vaccinated.
Tag Archives: breakthrough
Polio “iron lungs” meme
This meme makes the issue seem so clear.
And yet the fact that we have such a short memory works in both directions when it comes to polio vaccines.
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In April 1955 more than 200 000 children in five Western and mid-Western USA states received a polio vaccine in which the process of inactivating the live virus proved to be defective. Within days there were reports of paralysis and within a month the first mass vaccination programme against polio had to be abandoned. Subsequent investigations revealed that the vaccine had caused 40 000 cases of polio, leaving 200 children with varying degrees of paralysis and killing 10.
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Of course, they eventually came up with an effective polio vaccine.
But the polo vaccines offer lifelong (or at least near-lifelong) immunity.
The covid vaccines seem to last for ~6 months.
The polio vaccines also offer sterilizing immunity, preventing infection and protecting against disease and transmission.
The covid vaccines are quite effective at reducing illness and hospitalization. But it’s becoming evident that they do not prevent infection and transmission of the virus.
Another way in which the polio / covid analogy falls apart is that polio vaccines were administered during polio epidemics. In other words: regional outbreaks. And they were administered (and continue to be administered) in areas where no polio is present.
By contrast, the covid vaccines are being administered during a pandemic. Covid is everywhere, all around the world, and the goal of creating herd immunity in specific populations with a non-sterilizing vaccine is a totally different scenario. So far it does not seem to be anywhere near ending the crisis, even in the countries with the highest vaccination rates in the world.
Meanwhile, the WHO have stated that we are never going to end the pandemic by vaccinating people in developed countries while ignoring people in the developing world. The people who need the vaccine the most are the ones in crowded slums with poor sanitation, and it is from those countries that the next variants will continue to emerge.
P.S. One last thing: polio ravages children. Covid does not. Please think extra carefully before vaccinating children for something that does not cause them significant harm.
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Sources:
How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to a Growing Vaccine Crisis | NIH
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1383764/
Polio Vaccine Effectiveness and Duration of Protection | CDC
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/polio/hcp/effectiveness-duration-protection.html
WHO asks wealthy nations to hold off on Covid vaccine boosters at least through September | WHO
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/04/who-calls-for-moratorium-on-covid-vaccine-boosters-at-least-through-september.html
Vaccinated people are just as capable of contracting and transmitting covid asymptomatically
We are well past the point where this type of divisiveness is not only toxic, it is completely unfounded.
It turns out that vaccinated people are just as capable of contracting and transmitting covid, AND they’re more likely to do so asymptomatically without even realizing it.
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[The CDC] released a study that showed the Delta variant produced similar amounts of virus in vaccinated and unvaccinated people if they got infected — data that suggests vaccinated people who get a breakthrough infection could have a similar tendency to spread the virus as the unvaccinated.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html
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“There are reports coming in that vaccinated populations have cases of infection, particularly with the delta variant,” Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, said at a press briefing Monday. “The majority of these are mild or asymptomatic infections.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/12/most-fully-vaccinated-people-who-get-covid-delta-infections-are-asymptomatic-who-says-.html
I’m sorry that our politicians and public health “experts” — who claim to “follow the science” — are actually spreading misinformation that isn’t based on current science whatsoever.
I hope people will begin to think for themselves.
Alberta > Open letter: health care workers against mandatory vaccinations
An open letter penned by Alberta Health Services (AHS) workers was sent to AHS on Monday by Calgary constitutional lawyer Carol Crosson.
The letter was signed by 3,544 health care workers including 73 physicians, 1,111 nurses, 227 paramedics and thousands of allied health professionals, pharmacists, dentists, lab workers, psychologists and counselling professionals, medical students, AHS administrative and support staff and other health care professionals.
Open-Letter-To-AHS-revised-signatories-Sept-22
OPEN LETTER: Health care workers against mandatory vaccinations
The letter was signed by 3,544 health care workers including 73 physicians, 1,111 nurses, 227 paramedics and thousands of allied health professionals, pharmacists, dentists, lab workers, psychologists and counselling professionals, medical students, AHS administrative and support staff and other hea…
CDC > Vaccinated people do not carry the virus
Biden Covid team sees vaccine efficacy waning in unpublished data from Israel
The Israel data, which is set to be made public as soon as this week, shows that the Pfizer vaccine’s ability to prevent severe disease and hospitalization is waning over time — as is the shot’s protection against mild and moderate disease, the two sources said.
Pfizer > waning effectiveness not because of Delta
Evidence gathered in studies conducted both in Israel and in the United States by Kaiser Permanente Southern California and the CDC indicate that the observed decrease of vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 infections is primarily due to waning of vaccine immune responses over time rather than a result of the Delta variant escaping vaccine protection.
PDF (page 46)
Study Reveals Declining COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy Against Infection
Today’s report tracked the cohort through August 14—incorporating over four more months of data that include a time period in which the Delta variant swept the country—and found that overall, vaccine effectiveness dipped to 66 percent in the weeks when the variant accounted for at least 50 percent of SARS-CoV-2 viruses sequenced. What the study can’t answer is why effectiveness dipped in the weeks dominated by Delta.
[Preprint] Comparing SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity: reinfections versus breakthrough infections
SARS-CoV-2-naïve vaccines had a 13.06-fold (95% CI, 8.08 to 21.11) increased risk for breakthrough infection with the Delta variant compared to those previously infected, when the first event (infection or vaccination) occurred during January and February of 2021.
Comparing SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity: reinfections versus breakthrough infections
Background Reports of waning vaccine-induced immunity against COVID-19 have begun to surface. With that, the comparable long-term protection conferred by previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 remains unclear. Methods We conducted a retrospective observational study comparing three groups: (1)SARS-CoV-…
Duke sets new campus restrictions after rise in COVID cases among vaccinated students
In the first week of classes, 304 undergraduates, 45 graduate students and 15 employees tested positive for COVID-19. All but eight of these individuals were vaccinated, and the vast majority of them are asymptomatic. A small number have minor, cold- and flu-like symptoms, and none have been hospitalized, according to the university.