4 ms·
Vaccine mandates were always about preventing transmission. There isn't great data yet, but Omicron seems pretty good at infecting vaccinated people, so I suspe
by dehrmann 5y ago
Vaccine mandates were always about preventing transmission. There isn't great data yet, but Omicron seems pretty good at infecting vaccinated people, so I suspect people with breakthrough cases still transmit it somewhat well. Santa Clara county is heavily vaccinated, but Omicron was still its biggest wave by far.
Pre-Delta, mandates made sense (though the vaccines came too late for this to ever be practical). With Delta, the case was shakier. With Omicron, they're really only effective at preventing severe disease. That's huge for saving lives, not so much for preventing transmission.
- copo233 5y agoYou really kicked the shit out of that strawman.
- peteradio 5y agoEh? Vaccine effectiveness at preventing transmission dropped off precipitously with each new variant. Is your suggestion that preventing in-job transmission was not the purported purpose of workplace Covid vaccine mandates?
- copo233 5y agoPreventing serious illness and death has always been the stated goal of COVID-19 vaccine development and distribution.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoYes? Workplace vaccine mandates were never tied to onsite working or return to office, at least for my job.
- dang 5y agoWe've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the site guidelines. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- bbatha 5y ago> with Omicron, they're really only effective at preventing severe disease. That's huge for saving lives, not so much for preventing transmission. Given that your employer is also your health insurer its in their interest to prevent severe disease and death as well.
- mohanmcgeek 5y ago> your employer is also your health insurer Is this really true? I thought American employers paid the group insurance premium on their employees behalf to the actual insurance companies Is every org running its own insurance business too?
- bbatha 5y agoThey are not but the group premiums are deals cut with every business so businesses are incentivized to promote employee health to cut down in their premiums.
- mohanmcgeek 5y agoWhy would they care _after_ they've cut the deal?
- bbatha 5y agoBecause the deal needs to be renegotiated periodically. The deal may also include incentive structures for continued health initiatives and may include some cost sharing between the company and the insurer.