As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations creep up during a summer wave of heightened virus activity, updated vaccines are still likely weeks away.
Why it matters:
- Americans have largely tuned out COVID, but the latest COVID uptick is a reminder that the virus continues to circulate and mutate — though the threat is far below pandemic-era levels.
- Health officials face a challenge convincing a pandemic-fatigued public to get an updated COVID shot, as vaccine uptake has declined with each successive booster.
It’s a personal risk assessment in the same way that following the speed limit is a personal risk assessment. After all, if it’s just your car going 80 in a 25, it couldn’t possibly affect other cars!
Thing is, the vaccine doesn’t protect you against infecting other people. This is a known fact, and common for vaccines. That is not the point of a vaccine. A vaccine prevents YOU from being majorly infected - in the way that your body can quickly deal with the infection, because it’s used to it. It doesn’t magically make you immune, and not able to infect anyone.
You are incorrect. Vaccinated individuals can be carriers of an infection, but vaccines do lower the spread of COVID-19. They can reduce the amount of time you are contagious or prevent you from being meaningfully infected whatsoever. Meaningful difference.
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Could be lol. Then you have stuff like the Monty Hall problem that even smart people can struggle to wrap their heads around. Probability is complicated.
The vaccine absolutely does protect you from infecting others. It reduces your risk of getting the illness, so if you’re not sick you’re not a disease vector. It reduces your viral load, so when you’re ill you shed less virus, so you’re less likely to infect to other people. It reduces the length of time you’re sick, so there’s a smaller window when you can infect people.
The vaccine absolutely does protect you from infecting others.
This argument has no bounds, and is the reason why we need to pass explicit constitutional protections against public health infringements