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I thought the vaccine prevented infection. The CDC website says “All COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States are effective at preventing COV

I thought the vaccine prevented infection. The CDC website says “All COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States are effective at preventing COVID-19.” https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/facts.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/facts.htm... Is there a claim that the vaccines don’t prevent infection?

ethbr0 4y ago
COVID-19, medically speaking, is the disease. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus and infection. Similar to AIDS (the disease) and HIV (the virus that causes AIDS). For many viruses, you can have an infection without developing the disease. Especially if your immune system is primed, say by prior exposure and/or vaccination. And while technically you're still transmissible while you have an active infection (because you have virus multiplying in you), your viral loads are also likely much lower than someone exhibiting symptoms (because your immune system is keeping things under control). But for highly infectious diseases, sometimes even low doses are sufficient to infect someone around you.
freeflight 4y ago
> Is there a claim that the vaccines don’t prevent infection? Careful there with conflating the virus, SARS-CoV-2, with the disease, COVID-19, these two are not synonymous. At no point does the CDC article even mention SARS-CoV-2, it only mentions "the virus", never actually naming it, yet it keeps mentioning the disease it causes by name. Basically a bit like trying to talk about AIDS, without even mentioning HIV besides as "the virus". That's also why the article doesn't really say anything about vaccine effects on virus infections, it's all about vaccines effects on the disease that comes post-infection.
Izkata 4y ago
Just an aside to go along with sibling comments: Pfizer's press release back in 2020 [0], the one where the "95% efficacy" statement came from, was also careful to distinguish SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. It used both terms correctly and made no claims about preventing infection. We knew this for ~2 months after that press release [1][2][3]. It was the politicians/media who conflate SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 that assumed this also meant preventing infection, and the general public had little reason to distrust them at the time. Even among people who have kept up with this, these couple of months seem to have been pretty strongly memory-holed. [0] https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-publication-results-landmark https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta... [1] https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/12/02/covid-19-vaccines-may-not-prevent-spread-of-virus-so-mask-wearing-other-protections-still-critical/ https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/12/02/covid-19-vaccines... [2] https://www.businessinsider.com/who-says-no-evidence-coronavirus-vaccine-prevent-transmissions-2020-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/who-says-no-evidence-coronav... [3] https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/12/covid-19-vaccines-transmission.html https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/12/covid-...
newsclues 4y ago
Plenty of evidence of people who are vaccinated still getting the virus.

ethbr0 4y ago

COVID-19, medically speaking, is the disease. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus and infection. Similar to AIDS (the disease) and HIV (the virus that causes AIDS). For many viruses, you can have an infection without developing the disease. Especially if your immune system is primed, say by prior exposure and/or vaccination. And while technically you're still transmissible while you have an active infection (because you have virus multiplying in you), your viral loads are also likely much lower than someone exhibiting symptoms (because your immune system is keeping things under control). But for highly infectious diseases, sometimes even low doses are sufficient to infect someone around you.

freeflight 4y ago

> Is there a claim that the vaccines don’t prevent infection? Careful there with conflating the virus, SARS-CoV-2, with the disease, COVID-19, these two are not synonymous. At no point does the CDC article even mention SARS-CoV-2, it only mentions "the virus", never actually naming it, yet it keeps mentioning the disease it causes by name. Basically a bit like trying to talk about AIDS, without even mentioning HIV besides as "the virus". That's also why the article doesn't really say anything about vaccine effects on virus infections, it's all about vaccines effects on the disease that comes post-infection.

Izkata 4y ago

Just an aside to go along with sibling comments: Pfizer's press release back in 2020 [0], the one where the "95% efficacy" statement came from, was also careful to distinguish SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. It used both terms correctly and made no claims about preventing infection. We knew this for ~2 months after that press release [1][2][3]. It was the politicians/media who conflate SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 that assumed this also meant preventing infection, and the general public had little reason to distrust them at the time. Even among people who have kept up with this, these couple of months seem to have been pretty strongly memory-holed. [0] https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-publication-results-landmark https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta... [1] https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/12/02/covid-19-vaccines-may-not-prevent-spread-of-virus-so-mask-wearing-other-protections-still-critical/ https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/12/02/covid-19-vaccines... [2] https://www.businessinsider.com/who-says-no-evidence-coronavirus-vaccine-prevent-transmissions-2020-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/who-says-no-evidence-coronav... [3] https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/12/covid-19-vaccines-transmission.html https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/12/covid-...

newsclues 4y ago

Plenty of evidence of people who are vaccinated still getting the virus.