Vaccinated people infected with the virus are much less likely to need to go to the hospital, much less likely to need intubation and much less likely to die from the illness
Scientists say that there’s growing concern that vaccinated people may be more vulnerable to serious illness than previously thought, even as they are getting Covid at a surprisingly high rate.
Though it is evident vaccination still provides powerful protection against the virus, there’s a dearth of scientific studies with concrete answers.
This leaves public policymakers and corporate executives to formulate plans based on fragmented information.
How often vaccinated people are getting the coronavirus is not clear, nor is it certain how likely they are to spread the virus to others. While some are renewing mask mandates or delaying office reopenings, there seems to be no clarity in the situation that feels like a mess.
“We have to be humble about what we do know and what we don’t know,” said Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the head of the nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives.
“There are a few things we can say definitively. One is that this is a hard question to address.”
As a result, vaccinated people are left confused about how to protect themselves. Music lovers continue to be unsure if it’s OK to see a concert and parents are left pondering what school is going to look like.
It’s quite 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 great clinical data.”
As a result, vaccinated people are left confused about how to protect themselves. Music lovers continue to be unsure if it’s OK to see a concert, and parents are left pondering what school is going to look like
One of the best known outbreaks among vaccinated people occurred in the small beach town of Provincetown, Massachusetts, as thousands of vaccinated and unvaccinated alike gathered on dance floors and at house parties over the Fourth of July weekend to celebrate the holiday — and what seemed like a turning point in the pandemic.
About three-fourths of the 469 infections were among vaccinated people. The incident prompted the CDC to reverse a recommendation it had issued just a few weeks earlier and once again urge the vaccinated to mask up in certain settings.
However, some facts are well established at this point.
Vaccinated people infected with the virus are much less likely to need to go to the hospital, much less likely to need intubation and much less likely to die from the illness.
There’s no doubt that vaccines provide significant protection. But a large proportion of the nation — almost 30 per cent of U.S. adults — have not been vaccinated, which has conspired with the highly contagious delta variant to push the country into a new wave of outbreaks.
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