On rare breakthrough infections, @PeterHotez tells @mehdirhasan that “it’s important to remember that this is not unexpected. No one ever said the vaccines are 100% effective.”

May 27, 2021 · 12:20 AM UTC

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No body wants to take the blame when things go wrong, everybody wants to take the glory when things go right. Children playing politics with peoples lives. #Ridiculos #CovidVaccine
So how do you reach herd immunity with a vaccine that does not prevent the infection or transmission? It wasn't even tested for those things.
Isn't the answer same as always: more vaccinations? If breakthroughs are rare but possible in an environment with lots of COVID, the more people are vaccinated, the less COVID, less breakthroughs. Scientifically important to understand them, but it doesn't change the solution.
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Thank you for getting into this exact question on long haul in breakthroughs.
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Did it escape the lab that some American scientists were involved with?
So to be clear, in terms of chances of longterm deleterious effects on breakthrough COVID-19 cases for immunocompromised individuals, etc., the answer here is "we don't know"? Seems like a pretty big problem with opening everything up, no?
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I agree not unexpected at all—but I’m still confused about the high number of Yankee breakthrough cases. It seems statistically surprising (whether all were caused by an unvaxxed person or breakthroughs transmitted to others). Doesn’t it suggest they aren’t as rare as we thought?
I’m also still trying to figure out what kind of risk fully-vaxxed immunocompromised people are taking being around other fully-vaxxed people. If breakthrough cases really are rare and viral loads in those cases are so low that there is virtually no chance of transmission, … 1/2
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The vaccine makers themselves were upfront about this. Breakthrough infections under the old standards have happened by the thousands already.
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