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A vaccine breakthrough case is defined as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection in individuals who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Since may 2021 CDC registers such cases only if they required hospitalization. Hospitalization of vaccinated people happens very rarely but it does happen. Especially for people over 65. There was only about 1K deaths of vaccinated people from COVID-19. Here are the data from the beginning of July COVID-19 Breakthrough Case Investigations and Reporting - CDC
As of July 12, 2021, more than 159 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
During the same time, CDC received reports from 48 U.S. states and territories of 5,492 patients with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died.
Total number of vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC Hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC 5,492 Female 2,680 (49%) People aged ≥65 years 4,109 (75%) Asymptomatic infections 1,107 (20%) Hospitalizations* 5,189 (94%) Deaths† 1,063 (19%)
As approximately half of the USA population is now vaccinated statistcs favor vaccination in preventing hospitalizations.
While that suggests such cases are rare, the agency acknowledged that "the number of reported COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases is likely a substantial undercount of all SARS-CoV-2 infections".
And it is infected individual who spread the infection burying promoted by Fauci and other high level medical bureaucrats the idea of achieving herd immunity. After emergence of Delta variant it is clear that the idea of achieving "herd immunity" via vaccination was most probably a fiasco and Fauci needs to be held accountable (as other high level medical bureaucrats who promoted the same idea)
Now they changed the narrative from "vaccination totally preventing infections" to "vaccine preventing hospitalizations and death", but this does not save them from moral and intellectual bankruptcy. According to CDC data, over 1K fully vaccinated people died from COVID-19 and that fact can't be disputed.
Of course, risks are different depending on the density of population where you live. And vaccines have their uses (especially in large densely populated cities like NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc) for personnel closely working/interacting daily with random people(for example in mass transit) and thus exposed to the virus more then other categories of population. But that does not mean that the idea of total vaccination of population of the country has merits. Especially questionable is the idea of vaccination of children. They do not die form COVID-19 and extremely rarely are hospitalized so vaccination does not improve their odds of surviving/getting virus pneumonia (this is how COVID-19 kills and cripple people on older ages).
With Pfizer just announcing the need of a third shot within 6 months of 1st shot (as the effect of vaccination wanes with time) this announcement alone should be a red flag. With proper testing a company should know the duration of effectiveness before they inject vaccine into unsuspecting people. the question arise what else will surface in weeks and months after the start of the campaign of mass vaccination, especially taking into account mass use of mRNA based Pfizer vaccine. They were no clinically test mRNA vaccine before and generally any vaccine against coronavirus. So this is an experimental drug thatis injected in people in large scale.
You instantly feel that the "known unknowns" and "unknown unknown" exist here to quote former Defense Secretary under Bush II Donald Rumsfeld (who actually died in June 2021 aged 88). 'Known unknowns'- Donald Rumsfeld's most famous — and infamous — quotes
"As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know," Rumsfeld said in 2002, suggesting Iraq could have been giving terrorists weapons of mass destruction despite the fact there wasn't much evidence of it.
"Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist," he said in 2002, regarding the same topic.
Another question is "Why we should trust the quality of Pfizer testing?" The fact that Pfizer is a criminal Big Pharma monster who will do anything for profit does not need to be proved. Google search for "Pfizer criminal charges" and you will find some really interesting information. For example Pfizer- Corporate Rap Sheet - Corporate Research Project. In one case it was guilty for illegal experimentation on children in Africa killing at least 11 of them Criminal Charges Against Pfizer for Illegal Human Experimentation in Africa - Rasta Livewire. As Health Policy newsletter stated in 2020 (Tough on Crime- Pfizer and the CIHR - PubMed)
"Pfizer has been a "habitual offender," persistently engaging in illegal and corrupt marketing practices, bribing physicians and suppressing adverse trial results. Since 2002 the company and its subsidiaries have been assessed $3 billion in criminal convictions, civil penalties and jury awards."
For example:
...Pfizer agreed to pay $430 Million in 2004 to settle criminal charges that it had bribed doctors to prescribe its epilepsy drug Neurontin for indications for which it was not approved. Pfizer Caught Engaging In Illegal Marketing Practices & Assessed Billions In Criminal Convictions - SGT Report
Evans goes on to explain how in 2010 Pfizer was ordered to pay $142 million US in damages for fraudulently marketing an anti-seizure drug called gabapentin, which was marketed under the name Neurontin. Pfizer was caught “fraudulently” marketing the drug “and promoted it for unapproved use.” It was discovered that the drug was promoted by the drug company as a treatment for pain, migraines and bipolar disorder, even though it wasn’t effective in treating these conditions and was actually toxic.
The trials forced the company to release all of its studies on the drug, including the ones it kept hidden. A new analysis of those unpublished trials by the Therapeutics Initiative suggests that gabapentin works for one out of every six or eight people who use it, at best. The review also concluded that one in eight people had an adverse reaction to the drug.
It’s quite obvious why the company never wants to go to trial and always ends up paying large sums to settle. Apart from bribing and paying physicians and other medical professionals, the paper points out that they dished out millions of dollars to more than 200 academic medical centers and other research groups for clinical trials. A great quote comes to mind here from Arnold Seymour Relman (1923-2014), Harvard Professor of medicine and former Editor in Chief of the New England Medical Journal.
The medical profession is being bought by the pharmaceutical industry, not only in terms of the practice of medicine, but also in terms of teaching and research. The academic institutions of this country are allowing themselves to be the paid gents of the pharmaceutical industry. I think it’s disgraceful.”(source)
... Pfizer to Pay $2.3 Billion for Fraudulent Marketing.
American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. (hereinafter together "Pfizer") have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the Justice Department announced today.
Pharmacia & Upjohn Company has agreed to plead guilty to a felony violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead. Bextra is an anti-inflammatory drug that Pfizer pulled from the market in 2005. Under the provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a company must specify the intended uses of a product in its new drug application to FDA. Once approved, the drug may not be marketed or promoted for so-called "off-label" uses – i.e., any use not specified in an application and approved by FDA. Pfizer promoted the sale of Bextra for several uses and dosages that the FDA specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns. The company will pay a criminal fine of $1.195 billion, the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States for any matter. Pharmacia & Upjohn will also forfeit $105 million, for a total criminal resolution of $1.3 billion.
In addition, Pfizer has agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve allegations under the civil False Claims Act that the company illegally promoted four drugs – Bextra; Geodon, an anti-psychotic drug; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug – and caused false claims to be submitted to government health care programs for uses that were not medically accepted indications and therefore not covered by those programs. The civil settlement also resolves allegations that Pfizer paid kickbacks to health care providers to induce them to prescribe these, as well as other, drugs. The federal share of the civil settlement is $668,514,830 and the state Medicaid share of the civil settlement is $331,485,170. This is the largest civil fraud settlement in history against a pharmaceutical company.
As part of the settlement, Pfizer also has agreed to enter into an expansive corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. That agreement provides for procedures and reviews to be put in place to avoid and promptly detect conduct similar to that which gave rise to this matter.
Israel statistics does not favor vaccination with Pfizer vaccine (the predominate type of vaccine used in this country):
Pfizer Sells -Booster- Jabs To Israel As COVID Cases Rebound - ZeroHedge
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Israel Vaccination Statistics from The Lancet
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Take away....
The Vaccine” failed to achieve a 1% increase in the survival rate between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.6,400 total deaths since day 1 of Covid19
36 deaths under the age of 45
1,500 deaths were under the age of 70
- 76.56% of Covid19 deaths in Israel were over the age of 70
- 18% of deaths were OVER 90 years old!
1,127,965 people age 65+
1,015,620 were fully vaccinated
112,345 were not vaccinated138 “vaccinated” deaths = 99.99% survival rate
715 “un-vaccinated” deaths = 99.36% survival rate>> 0.63% greater survival rate in the vaccinated group.
1,764,098 people age 45 to 64
1,408,492 were fully vaccinated
355,606 were not vaccinated14 “vaccinated” deaths = 99.99% survival rate
125 “un-vaccinated” deaths = 99.97% survival rate>> 0.02% greater survival rate in the vaccinated group.
3,646,848 people age 16 to 44
2,290,820 were fully vaccinated
1,356,028 were not vaccinated0 “vaccinated” deaths = 100% survival rate
36 “un-vaccinated” deaths = 99.997% survival rate>> 0.003% greater survival rate in the vaccinated group.
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Aug 01, 2021 | www.msn.com
An analysis by British academics, published by the UK Government's official scientific advisory group, says that they believe it is "almost certain" that a SARS-Cov-2 variant will emerge that "leads to current vaccine failure." SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes Covid-19.
The analysis has not been peer-reviewed, the early research is theoretical, and does not provide any proof that such a variant is in circulation now. Documents like it are released "as pre-print publications that have provided the government with rapid evidence during an emergency."
The paper is dated July 26, and was published by the British government on Friday.
The scientists write that because eradication of the virus is "unlikely," they have "high confidence" that variants will continue to emerge. They say it is "almost certain" that there will be "a gradual or punctuated accumulation of antigenic variation that eventually leads to current vaccine failure."
They recommend that authorities continue to reduce virus transmission as much as possible to reduce the chance of a new, vaccine-resistant variant.
They also recommend that research focus on new vaccines that not only prevent hospital admission and disease, but also "induce high and durable levels of mucosal immunity."
The goal, they say, should be "to reduce infection of and transmission from vaccinated individuals," and to "reduce the possibility of variant selection in vaccinated individuals." Research is already underway at several companies that make the Covid-19 vaccines to address new variants.
The views were expressed in a paper "by group of academics on scenarios for the longer term evolution of SARS-CoV-2," and discussed and published by the UK's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
They write that some variants that have emerged over the past few months "show a reduced susceptibility to vaccine-acquired immunity, though none appears to escape entirely."
But they caution that these variants emerged "before vaccination was widespread," and that "as vaccines become more widespread, the transmission advantage gained by a virus that can evade vaccine-acquired immunity will increase."
This is an issue that SAGE has warned about before.
In minutes from its July 7 meeting, SAGE scientists wrote that "the combination of high prevalence and high levels of vaccination creates the conditions in which an immune escape variant is most likely to emerge." It said at the time that "the likelihood of this happening is unknown, but such a variant would present a significant risk both in the UK and internationally."
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Aug 01, 2021 | www.msn.com
Hundreds of staffers at two major hospitals in San Francisco have tested positive for coronavirus in July, with most of them being breakthrough cases of the highly infectious Delta variant, The New York Times reported Saturday evening.
The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center told media outlets that 183 of its 35,000 staffers tested positive. Of those infected, 84% were fully vaccinated, and just two vaccinated staff members required hospitalization for their symptoms.
At Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, at least 50 members out of the total 7,500 hospital staff were infected, with 75-80% of them vaccinated. None of those staffers required hospitalization.
... ... ...
Day also told ABC7 News that at least 99% of the cases at UCSF were traced back to community spread, but that hospital officials are still investigating and conducting contact tracing.
He added that most of the cases presented mild to moderate symptoms, and some were completely asymptomatic. He said the cases were spread among doctors, nurses, and ancillary staff.
"We sort of are seeing that across the board," he said. "We have so far not detected any patient-to-staff or staff-to-patient transmission right now."
The Delta variant has also been known to spread among vaccinated people in breakthrough cases, prompting the agency this week to recommend that even fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas with high transmission rates.
The CDC emphasized that getting vaccinated is still highly beneficial and is a crucial component to combatting the coronavirus - even the Delta variant.
"Getting vaccinated continues to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death, even with Delta," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told media on Tuesday.
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Aug 01, 2021 | www.msn.com
4 This is what Republicans said as Capitol police told their stories on the Hill Russia Calls Joe Biden's Comments on Nation's Economy 'Inherently
A reversal in federal health guidance calling for fully vaccinated individuals to don masks in certain indoor areas amid high and substantial viral spread has left some experts divided.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rolled out the latest guidance on Tuesday, with agency head Dr. Rochelle Walensky citing "worrisome" new science necessitating the update.
"In recent days, I have seen new scientific data from sequenced outbreak investigations showing that the delta variant behaves uniquely differently from past strains of the virus that cause COVID-19," Walensky told reporters over a call. "Information on the delta variant from several states and other countries indicate that in rare occasions, some vaccinated people infected with the delta variant after vaccination may be contagious and spread the virus to others."
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Jul 30, 2021 | www.msn.com
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the Delta variant of COVID-19 is equally contagious whether it's contracted by a vaccinated or unvaccinated person.
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Jul 30, 2021 | www.msn.com
A week after the crowds descended upon Provincetown, Massachusetts, to celebrate the Fourth of July -- the holiday President Joe Biden hoped would mark the nation's liberation from COVID-19 -- the manager of the Cape Cod beach town said he was aware of "a handful of positive COVID cases among folks" who spent time there.
"We are in touch with the Health Department and Outer Cape Health Services and are closely monitoring the data," Alex Morse told reporters.
The announcement wasn't unusual with roughly half of the country still unvaccinated and flare-ups of the virus popping up in various states.
But within weeks, health officials seemed to be on to something much bigger. The outbreak quickly grew to the hundreds and most of them appeared to be vaccinated.
MORE: Vast majority of ICU patients with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, ABC News survey finds
As of Thursday, 882 people were tied to the Provincetown outbreak. Among those living in Massachusetts, 74% of them were fully immunized, yet officials said the vast majority were also reporting symptoms. Seven people were reported hospitalized.
The initial findings of the investigation led by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seemed to have huge implications.
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Jul 30, 2021 | www.msn.com
CDC Warns Vaccinated People Can Pass COVID to Others Even if you're vaccinated, you should wear a mask in places of high transmissibility -- and you could give COVID to someone else. These eyebrow-raising facts were revealed yesterday by the CDC.
In response, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky joined SiriusXM's Doctor Radio Reports and opened up to show host Dr. Marc Siegel about the delta variant and evidence that it's something that fully vaccinated people may pass along to others, and the idea of making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory.
Read on for five live-saving pieces of advice -- and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these: Sure Signs You Have "Long" COVID and May Not Even Know It .
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Jul 29, 2021 | www.msn.com
If a vaccinated person experiences any symptoms of COVID-19 listed by the CDC, the public health agency recommends getting tested and isolating from others until a result is received. If the test is positive, an infected vaccinated person should isolate at home for 10 days. According to the CDC's guidelines for the fully vaccinated, those infected with the delta variant can spread it to others.
The existence of breakthrough cases doesn't mean that vaccines aren't doing their job, experts say. In fact, merely coming down with a mild infection rather than a severe one is often evidence that the vaccine is doing its job in helping your immune system fight the virus. Since the existing vaccines were developed to combat the alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2, it makes sense that they're not as effective in combating the delta variant, whose mutations have shown to some extent to evade the immune response from the vaccines. Yet all the COVID-19 vaccines are mostly able to stop the infection worsening.
"In a vaccinated person, what will happen is that we already have cells that very specifically recognize an infected cell, and can aggressively target that infection so that the virus can no longer replicate," said Dr. Nicole Baumgarth, a professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at University of California–Davis. "Even if we cannot stop the infection from happening, [the vaccine] stops it very early in its tracks; the less virus replication you have, the less symptoms you will have, the less disease and it gets easier for the immune system to mop up the little bit of virus."
Signs of infection, like a fever, develop when the immune system has been activated to fight it.
"Some of the signs of disease are actually signs that the immune system has been activated," Baumgarth said. "That's one response to the body to fight the viruses, to increase the temperature."
Baumgarth said it is in fact accurate to think of a breakthrough infection as a "booster shot." However, Baumgarth would not advocate for people to purposely expose themselves to the virus. Yet a mild breakthrough case does build one's immunity against the virus.
Of course, given the possibility of spreading the virus further, it is best not to get infected at all.
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Jul 29, 2021 | www.msn.com
Last week, Israel's health ministry released preliminary data suggesting that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine's ability to protect against a mild coronavirus infection may have decreased precipitously, even though it remains effective against severe illness and death from COVID-19. The reason for the decrease in the vaccine's effectiveness may be both because of transient immunity and the virulent delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which is more adept at overcoming the vaccine's defenses.
The delta variant is now the dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in Israel, where researchers now estimate that the two-shot Pfizer vaccine is only 39% effective in preventing an infection within the country. That is about half as effective as the vaccine was two weeks ago, when it purportedly exhibited 64% effectiveness against coronavirus infection in Israel -- though at that point in time, the delta variant was less widespread. Upon its public release in late 2020, Pfizer-BioNTech's mRNA vaccine was reported to have an efficacy of 95%.
On a positive note, research data shows that the Pfizer vaccine is still effective at preventing serious illness; at least 88 percent effective in protecting against hospitalization; and 91 percent effective at preventing severe illness.
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Jul 29, 2021 | www.msn.com
Post-vaccination infections, or breakthroughs, might occasionally turn symptomatic , but they aren't shameful or aberrant . They also aren't proof that the shots are failing . These cases are, on average, gentler and less symptomatic; faster-resolving, with less virus lingering -- and, it appears, less likely to pass the pathogen on. The immunity offered by vaccines works in iterations and gradations, not absolutes. It does not make a person completely impervious to infection. It also does not evaporate when a few microbes breach a body's barriers. A breakthrough, despite what it might seem, does not cause our defenses to crumble or even break ; it does not erase the protection that's already been built. Rather than setting up fragile and penetrable shields, vaccines reinforce the defenses we already have , so that we can encounter the virus safely and potentially build further upon that protection.
To understand the anatomy of a breakthrough case, it's helpful to think of the human body as a castle. Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, compares immunization to reinforcing such a stronghold against assault.
Without vaccination, the castle's defenders have no idea an attack is coming. They might have stationed a few aggressive guard dogs outside, but these mutts aren't terribly discerning: They're the system's innate defenders , fast-acting and brutal, but short-lived and woefully imprecise. They'll sink their teeth into anything they don't recognize, and are easily duped by stealthier invaders. If only quarrelsome canines stand between the virus and the castle's treasures, that's a pretty flimsy first line of defense. But it's essentially the situation that many uninoculated people are in. Other fighters, who operate with more precision and punch -- the body's adaptive cells -- will eventually be roused. Without prior warning, though, they'll come out in full force only after a weeks - long delay , by which time the virus may have run roughshod over everything it can. At that point, the fight may, quite literally, be at a fever pitch, fueling worsening symptoms.
Post-vaccination infections, or breakthroughs, might occasionally turn symptomatic , but they aren't shameful or aberrant . They also aren't proof that the shots are failing . These cases are, on average, gentler and less symptomatic; faster-resolving, with less virus lingering -- and, it appears, less likely to pass the pathogen on. The immunity offered by vaccines works in iterations and gradations, not absolutes. It does not make a person completely impervious to infection. It also does not evaporate when a few microbes breach a body's barriers. A breakthrough, despite what it might seem, does not cause our defenses to crumble or even break ; it does not erase the protection that's already been built. Rather than setting up fragile and penetrable shields, vaccines reinforce the defenses we already have , so that we can encounter the virus safely and potentially build further upon that protection.
To understand the anatomy of a breakthrough case, it's helpful to think of the human body as a castle. Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, compares immunization to reinforcing such a stronghold against assault.
Without vaccination, the castle's defenders have no idea an attack is coming. They might have stationed a few aggressive guard dogs outside, but these mutts aren't terribly discerning: They're the system's innate defenders , fast-acting and brutal, but short-lived and woefully imprecise. They'll sink their teeth into anything they don't recognize, and are easily duped by stealthier invaders. If only quarrelsome canines stand between the virus and the castle's treasures, that's a pretty flimsy first line of defense. But it's essentially the situation that many uninoculated people are in. Other fighters, who operate with more precision and punch -- the body's adaptive cells -- will eventually be roused. Without prior warning, though, they'll come out in full force only after a weeks - long delay , by which time the virus may have run roughshod over everything it can. At that point, the fight may, quite literally, be at a fever pitch, fueling worsening symptoms.
... ... ...
The choice isn't about getting vaccinated or getting infected. It's about bolstering our defenses so that we are ready to fight an infection from the best position possible -- with our defensive wits about us, and well-armored bodies in tow.
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Jul 24, 2021 | www.msn.com
With the highly infectious delta coronavirus variant spreading at an alarming rate, the World Health Organization in late June 2021 urged people to again wear masks indoors – even those who are fully vaccinated.
... ... ...
What's the science behind the WHO recommendation?There is clear and mounting evidence that – though rare – breakthrough COVID-19 infections can occur, even in the fully vaccinated. This is particularly true with emerging variants of concern.
The CDC has been following these data closely. By mid-July 2021, nearly 60% of the U.S. population age 18 or older had been fully vaccinated. Infections in those who are fully vaccinated are rare, and serious outcomes from COVID-19 in that population are even rarer – though they do still occur. However, the CDC stopped tracking nonhospitalized cases of COVID-19 for people with and without symptoms among fully vaccinated individuals on May 1, 2021.
The risk of infection leading to serious illness and death, however, differs starkly between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
... ... ...
One recent preliminary report from Israel is sobering, however. Before the delta variant became widespread, from January to April 2021 , Israel reported that the Pfizer vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic disease. However, since June 6 , with the delta variant circulating more widely, the Pfizer vaccine has been 64% effective in preventing symptomatic disease, according to preliminary data reported by Israel's Ministry of Health in early July.
And in another new report that is not yet peer-reviewed , researchers compared blood serum antibodies from people vaccinated with Pfizer Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and found that the J&J vaccine lent much lower protection against delta, beta and other variants, compared with the mRNA-based vaccines.
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Jul 20, 2021 | newsdeal.in
Despite the power of Covid-19 vaccines in cutting the risk of hospitalization and death from the disease, fully vaccinated people can get very sick and die from the virus in rare cases. Those individuals tend to be older than 65 or have weakened immune systems or other severe medical conditions, an NBC News survey of health officials nationwide found.
"Throughout the pandemic, people who died of Covid-19 were most likely to be older, and that continues to be true with breakthrough cases," a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said in an email.
Full coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic
In Oregon, about 10 percent of the breakthrough infections reported to the state were in people living in nursing homes or congregate care facilities, and the majority of deaths were older people.
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Jul 20, 2021 | www.wgbh.org
By Arun Rath July 19, 2021 All Things Considered SHARE
Shira Doron on All Things Considered | July 19, 2021COVID-19 cases are trending upwards across the country. In Massachusetts, where vaccination rates are relatively high, cases are still on the rise" and a cluster in Provincetown among mostly vaccinated individuals caused the town to issue a new mask advisory Monday. Tufts Medical Center epidemiologist Dr. Shira Doron spoke with Arun Rath on GBH's All Things Considered about where thing stand in the Commonweath and the nation.
Arun Rath: It probably makes sense to start with today's news out of Provincetown. The town is putting its indoor mask advisory back in place after more than 100 new COVID cases popped up after the July Fourth holiday. What do you make of that uptick and the response?
Shira Doron: Well, the outbreak is unexpected. It's not what we've been seeing. There's quite a bit of transmission there reported between vaccinated individuals. And really, what we've seen so far, has been that, certainly, breakthrough cases occur in vaccinated individuals" usually they have mild symptoms, which we do believe to be the case here" but usually they don't transmit to others, so the fact that there are so many cases" 132 reported" that a good proportion of them are vaccinated and that it appears that there was transmission among them is unusual. And so it makes sense for health authorities there to take some swift and rather aggressive action, at least for the moment, to try to control the outbreak, and then continue to study what might have happened there, because there's still so much we don't know.
Rath: Interesting. So that uptick of 100 cases is as unusual as it sounds, that's sort of why the response is what it is.
Doron: Yes, we really haven't seen anything quite like this yet.
Rath: Are you concerned that we will start to see other incidents like this?
Doron: I hope not. I hope that this was, you know, an anomaly that was probably related to the fact that the delta variant is so very contagious that some people who harbor it have very, very high viral loads in the respiratory tract. The fact that it was a holiday weekend, very crowded bars and nightclubs, some rain that drove people inside more than usual, and that perhaps all of those things came together this one time to cause this outbreak...
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Jul 23, 2021 | www.msn.com
4 Details on FBI inquiry into Kavanaugh draw fire from Democrats Democrats' divide on voting rights widens as Biden faces pressure
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced on Thursday that 20 percent of new COVID-19 cases identified in Los Angeles County were in vaccinated individuals.
..."The Delta variant is a game-changer," Ferrer said. With the Delta variant driving community spread and positive case numbers up in LA County, the percentage of breakthrough cases in fully-vaccinated people has gone up as well. The daily average case rate was 7.1 per 100,000 people on July 15 and shot up to 12.9 on Thursday.
... about 53 percent of LA County residents are fully vaccinated against coronavirus. About 58 percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 are fully vaccinated.
... Vaccinated people are still far more likely to be able to fight off the virus when exposed. Vaccinated people are also much less likely to advance to serious illness or death, with 90 percent of nationwide hospitalizations or fatalities occurring in unvaccinated people.
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Jul 23, 2021 | www.msn.com
... new data shows people infected with the delta strain can carry up to 1,000 times more virus in their nasal passages than those infected with the original strain.
"I think people are underestimating how bad this is going to get," said Dr. Ashish Jha. "We are in for a very tough August, probably a very tough September before this really turns around."
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters at a briefing Thursday that the delta variant "is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of, and that I have seen in my 20 year career."
Jha told CNBC's " The News with Shepard Smith ," that the infection rate could be worse if it were winter, and predicted the delta spike could peak within two months.
"It might peak in September, but we are far away from the peak, right now we are doing 40,000 cases a day, it's going to go substantially higher before it peaks," Jha said.
The delta variant has spread rapidly through the U.S., accounting for more than 83% of sequenced cases in the U.S. right now, up from 50% the week of July 3, according to the CDC.
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Jul 04, 2021 | www.forbes.com
At delta variant of Covid-19 spreads across many Western and Southern U.S. states, its high transmission rate could increase them number of immune to the virus people from about 50% to 85%" even if vaccination rates continue to plateau, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former chief of the Food and Drug Administration, said.
Gottlieb noted that millions of Americans remain vulnerable and now have a "choice in terms of how [they] acquire immunity."
Both vaccinated and those who have natural immunity still have increased risk Gottlieb said, pointing to data showing immunity among individuals naturally infected with Covid-19" and particularly those who are older" declines after about eight months. It looks like the decline for vaccinated people is even faster and that's why there are talks about booster shots
He predicted Covid will effectively act as a "second circulating flu this winter," though he said its prominence "could be a little worse."
In Mexico, an estimated 84% of cases are delta infections, which may be a warning that this variant may also be endemic in Latin America.
If the virus continues to mutate as fast as did in 2020 and 2021 herd immunity against this virus might never be achieved.
CRUCIAL QUOTE"I wouldn't be declaring mission accomplished. I think this is going to be a long fight," Gottlieb said Sunday. "You're seeing a decoupling between cases, hospitalizations and deaths because there's so much immunity in the population""not just through vaccination""but also through prior infection... But this is likely to become an endemic virus. We're going to have to deal with it."
KEY BACKGROUNDSince the start of the pandemic, experts have long said Covid-19's threat would largely wane once herd immunity is reached, referring to a large-enough proportion of immunity that effectively makes person-to-person transmission highly unlikely within a community. If the virus cominutes to mutated in a ways it did in 202 and 2021 this might not happen all and herd immunity against this virus might never be achived.
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GP Jul 17Jul 20, 2021 | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
The news is peppered with anecdotal evidence of breakthrough cases. The headlines are terrifying and the personal stories are tragic:
Boston Globe : "79 fully vaccinated Massachusetts residents have died, 303 hospitalized in very rare COVID "˜breakthrough' cases, officials say"
The Guardian : "COVID outbreak among vaccinated Vegas hospital workers underscores Delta risks"
NBC : "Illinois Coronavirus Updates: Breakthrough COVID Cases Are 2% of State's Deaths This Year"
So, why do breakthrough cases happen?We shouldn't think of vaccine protection as binary (yes or no). It's better to think of protection on a spectrum: On one end the vaccine will protect people in every situation and on the other end it doesn't protect people at all. And each of us land somewhere in between.
There are many factors that determine where we land:
There's of course the variants. Depending which variant you come in contact with determines your level of protection. mRNA vaccines' efficacy is now ~88% against Delta. If 100 people got COVID19, Pfizer/Moderna could have prevented 88 of them. 12 people would have still gotten some form of the disease. On the other hand, if people came in contact with the original strain, 95 (out of a 100) would have been prevented.
Some of us just don't have immune systems that can build protection. For example, it looks like certain drugs for immunocompromised patients reduce and/or prevent protection. Also, older adults are less protected.
Behaviors, too, can predict your place on this spectrum. If a vaccinated person is exposed to a large enough dose of a virus OR exposed to enough unvaccinated people where transmission is high, the virus can overcome the vaccine and cause infection, even among the sturdiest of immune defenses.
And then there's just luck. Even if you compare twins , the level of protection can differ. Some people will just create fewer or less strong defense mechanisms (antibodies, T cells, and/or memory B cells). And we don't really know why.
Nonetheless, should the virus make it through, Dr. Ali Ellebody, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis, said it best:
"It becomes a race [against] time. The pathogen rushes to copy itself, and the immune system recruits more defenders. The longer the tussle drags on, the more likely the disease is to manifest."
It's important to monitor all breakthrough cases.If we closely monitor them, we can answer some very critical questions like"¦
Are breakthrough cases happening at the rate in which we expect?
Who's most likely to break through?
What is the rate of a mild breakthrough case vs. severe breakthrough case?
Are variants, like Delta, causing more (or more severe) breakthrough cases than other variants?
A study was published describing breakthrough cases between January 1-April 30. During this time among 101 million fully vaccinated Americans, 10,262 breakthrough infections were reported to the CDC. Who were they?
63% female
Median age was 58 years (age range was 40""74 years)
10% were hospitalized
2% died. Median age of patients who died was 82 years (age range was 71""89 years)
Genomic sequence data were available for 5% of breakthrough cases
64% were identified as a Variant of Concern (this was before Delta emerged)
Beginning May 1, 2021, though, the CDC transitioned from monitoring all breakthrough infections to investigating only those among patients who are hospitalized or die. The CDC doesn't have the infrastructure to rigorously investigate all breakthrough cases. They needed to prioritize their operation, so they decided to focus on cases of highest clinical and public health significance.
The CDC continuously publishes the latest count on their website . As of July 6, there were 5,186 severe breakthrough cases. This includes 988 deaths (although it's important to notice the footnote stating that 255 of these were not directly related to COVID19).
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From February 1 to June 21, 123,620 Delta cases were sequenced in the UK. Among those, 10,834 cases were among fully vaccinated ( i.e. breakthrough cases) and 71,932 cases among the unvaccinated. While this isn't all of the breakthrough cases, this gives an even closer estimate to the "true" rate of breakthrough cases due to Delta. But even this is among patients who went to the hospital. We still don't know the asymptomatic and/or mild breakthrough rate.
Anna Stern Jul 16
Reply 3 repliesIt really angers me that the CDC isn't tracking all breakthroughs even if they don't investigate everything, because we are losing so much information, such as what's going on here.
There have been a couple of Delta breakthrough CLUSTERS in the news lately, so there may be fully vaxxed people who are superspreaders. I don't think you can attribute these to individual immune system issues.
In this cluster, the sources had a vaccine with lower effectiveness, and they probably stood pretty close together, even though outdoors. But the other folks had mRNA. All guests were required to be fully vaxxed.
https://www.businessinsider.com/fully-vaccinated-people-got-covid-after-an-outdoor-wedding-2021-7
8 fully vaxxed, 2 partially vaxxed, 1 unvaxxed health care workers were infected at a pool party.
Anna Stern Jul 16Question: Many of the news reports about breakthrough cases show that groups of friends or couples who are all fully vaccinated but spent time together somehow *all* ended up as breakthrough cases. With the 88% vaccine efficacy rate, how does that work? For example, if a husband who is fully vaccinated is infected as a breakthrough case, shouldn't it be highly unprobable mathematically that his fully vaccinated wife also then contracts it from him?
This is the newest/current NY Yankee cluster.
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/07/15/new-york-yankees-game-postponed/
Reply Rose W. Jul 18Thanks for this! Katelyn, you are a gem. As a retired fed health professional, I have kind of an embedded risk vs threat meter after all those years of working. I am cringing at everyone going back to normal, like the pandemic is over. I over quote Yogi Berra - it ain't over till it's over.
Reply Ralt18 Jul 18As a fully vaccinated person, I have continued to mask indoors as my kids are not vaccinated and I do not want to risk spreading it to them. I am now getting nervous about outdoor interactions i.e school dropoffs, outdoor bday parties, etc. with potentially unvaccinated individuals. The wedding and Vegas pool party stories have made me a bit nervous. Any thoughts?
I wish I could put an attachment here but in the same vein of all of this, my sister , who is a diehard anti vaxxer sent me a snip of the Israel Health ministry case reporting from last week which breaks down cases of fully vaccinated and non vaccinated by age group. The chart shows almost higher percentage of vaccinated individuals with cases and show small case load but overall high percent . She is running with this information saying this proves that the vaccine makes you more suspepticle to covid and is causing the current issues. Local, I know you have explained this data reporting misunderstanding before but can you explain again why the data looks skewed in Israel ? Also check me on my chart
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Jul 21, 2021 | www.msn.com
The Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus continues to spread. It now constitutes 83% of the COVID cases in the U.S.
And now, as CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported Wednesday, a preliminary study not yet peer reviewed suggests that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may not be as effective against the Delta variant as the other two authorized vaccines.
... The J&J vaccine has been given to more than 13 million people
Those conclusions differ from smaller clinical results released by J&J earlier this month that said a single dose of their vaccine did protect against Delta, even eight months after inoculation.
Those differences could be because the new study looked at antibodies in the lab compared to real world immunity in people, which would include T-cell immunity. Peer review would help determine that contribution to protection.
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Jul 21, 2021 | www.thehealthsite.com
... ... ...
Delta variant dominates vaccine-breakthrough infectionsTo come to this conclusion, scientists from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease looked at more than 100 health workers at three centres across India. Titled "Sars-Cov-2 B.1.617.2 Delta Variant Emergence and Vaccine Breakthrough: Collaborative Study". One of the centres was Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in Delhi. It is yet to be peer reviewed.
Researchers of this study found that the Delta variant, which emerged in India, dominates vaccine-breakthrough infections with higher respiratory viral loads compared to non-Delta infections.
They also saw that this variant generates greater transmission among the fully vaccinated healthcare workers. Moreover, the study found that, in vitro, the Delta variant is around eight-fold less sensitive to vaccine-elicited antibodies compared to the original virus.
Hence, they came to the conclusion that Delta variant is both more transmissible and better able to evade the immunity a patient gets from previous infection as compared to previously circulating coronaviruses.
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Jul 19, 2021 | www.thegatewaypundit.com
60% of people being admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 in England are fully vaccinated, Sky News reported .
According to Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific advisor, Covid patients have received two doses of the Covid vaccine.
"In terms of the number of people in hospital who've been double-vaccinated, we know it's around 60% of the people being admitted to hospital with COVID," Vallance said.
"We do expect there to be over 1,000 people per day being hospitalized with coronavirus because of the increase in infections," he added. "But the rates should be lower than they have been previously because of the protective effects of vaccination."
Update: Now Sir Patrick Vallance is claiming he misspoke during Monday's presser!
"Correcting a statistic I gave at the press conference today, 19 July. About 60% of hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people." Vallance said in a tweet.
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Jul 19, 2021 | www.thegatewaypundit.com
60% of people being admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 in England are fully vaccinated, Sky News reported .
According to Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific advisor, Covid patients have received two doses of the Covid vaccine.
"In terms of the number of people in hospital who've been double-vaccinated, we know it's around 60% of the people being admitted to hospital with COVID," Vallance said.
"We do expect there to be over 1,000 people per day being hospitalized with coronavirus because of the increase in infections," he added. "But the rates should be lower than they have been previously because of the protective effects of vaccination."
Update: Now Sir Patrick Vallance is claiming he misspoke during Monday's presser!
"Correcting a statistic I gave at the press conference today, 19 July. About 60% of hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people." Vallance said in a tweet.
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Jul 19, 2021 | www.msn.com
Vaccinated people who have experienced Covid-19 symptoms in the past 10 days, however, should get tested and isolate themselves from others for 10 days if their test is positive, the CDC has recommended.
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Jul 19, 2021 | www.zerohedge.com
Two weeks ago, when markets were merrily melting up without a worry in the world, and certainly were not paying attention to the recent spike in Delta cases, we showed that unlike in 2020 when covid hospitalizations and deaths promptly followed - with a slight lag - any move higher in new covid cases, now that vast swaths of the population have been vaccinated, there has been a clear decoupling between new cases on one hand, and hospitalizations and fatalities on the other
... Yet while infections may indeed be rising, Fauci purposefully refused to address the real elephant in the room: is there a concurrent surge in hospitalizations and/or deaths: after all, it those that matter - especially if the Delta variant results in a much weaker form of covid as many have speculated - and not the cases outright.
...
Where we do agree with Kolanovic, however, is where he repeats what we said two weeks ago with the chart shown at the top of this post, namely that the "Delta variant is a key risk to the call, but encouragingly the link between the case count and hospitalizations/deaths in the UK and other countries has weakened meaningfully (Figure 1)." In short cases and hospitalizations have decoupled... just as we showed they have even if the government's propaganda spin masters refuse to acknowledge.
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Jul 19, 2021 | abc7.com
As the Delta variant takes hold, some of the first COVID-19 cases among the vaccinated population are being detected. According to the states data, 74 vaccinated California's have died, however, the report states it is unknown if the primary cause of death in these cases was COVID-19 or if there were other alternate causes.
... At Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital one of seven COVID patients was vaccinated. According to the latest state data, 20.4 million fully vaccinated individuals, 10,430 post-vaccination cases (0.051%) have been identified.
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Jul 19, 2021 | twitter.com
Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter If you're wondering how bad Delta really is, even in highly vaccinated SF (76% of >age 12 fully vaxxed) & still w/ a lot of masking (most folks in stores), we're seeing a pretty steep Covid uptick. Daily cases up 4-fold (10->42; Fig L), hospital pts doubled (9->19; R)(Thread 1/4) 3:41 PM · Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App 2,064 Retweets 285 Quote Tweets 3,874 Likes Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter Uptick mirrored @ucsfhospitals : Covid inpatients (we were at ~3 pts two-wks ago) now 13 (Fig L). Overall test positivity rate was well below 1%; it's now up to 2.6% (Fig R). Even more worrisome, test positivity rate in asymptomatic pts was ~0.15%, now up 6-fold to 0.9%. (2/4) 14 93 362 Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter · Jul 15 I don't have vaccinated/unvaxxed breakdown for SF & UCSF – I assume most severe cases are in unvaxxed. But even for vaxxed, w/ more Covid in air expect more breakthru cases. As for me, I'm back to double-mask in stores. Still indoor dining but might abort if trends continue.(3/4) 88 197 719 Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter · Jul 15 The SF # s are still fairly low, & are cause for caution, not panic. But this kind of uptick in SF (U.S.'s vaccination leader) shows that Delta is very real – the places w/ much lower vax rates may well get clobbered. Alas, doesn't seem like there are many persuadables left.(4/4) 67 185 854 Derek Reilly @DerekReilly19 · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter 42 and 19? Come on Bob seriously. 1 1 8 kenlipartito @kenlipartito · Jul 15 Really. It's not like this thing grows exponentially, right? 3 26 Show replies geva kra oz @gevakraoz · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter @Meir_Rubin Can't Working @ArianneM12 · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter Was waiting on the post 4th of July consequences. Hopefully they all live 1 5 Stressedout @TMD666 · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter Any advice for @CDCgov ? They missed the window of opportunity. What can @CDCgov do in addition to vaccine to bring delta under control? 6 6 Michaela Barnes @mabarnes9 · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter Montgomery County MD where I live has 81.8% of 12yo and up fully vaccinated per CDC and we're also seeing big % upticks from very low numbers. 6 10 75 Show replies 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗿, 𝗠𝗗 @grahamwalker · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter Same Bob; anecdotally have started seeing COVID again in the ED when previously hadn't seen any in months, thus far only in unvaccinated patients. It's baaack, despite us being probably the most vaccinated large city in the US.
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Jul 19, 2021 | foxlexington.com
In the last month or so, about 20-25% of the cases in Fayette County have been breakthroughs. Health leaders say it was expected that vaccinated people could still catch the virus, but the important thing is they are much less likely to get severely ill as a result.
... "Some of that is likely because of the Delta variant, but also because people who are vaccinated are likely not taking as many precautions as they did before," spokesperson Kevin Hall said. "This could be compared to wearing your seatbelt. It does protect you, they still don't go 120 miles an hour down the interstate. You need to still take precautions."
Hall said they've also seen a few cases where unvaccinated people bring the virus home and infect vaccinated family members.
He said even though there isn't a mandate, those safety precautions, like wearing a mask around crowds, are still encouraged.
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Jul 18, 2021 | abc7.com
As of Monday, there were 3,200 new COVID-19 cases in California, and now, medical doctors are noticing some of the first numbers of COVID vaccine breakthrough cases.
...According to the states data, 74 vaccinated California's have died, however, the report states it is unknown if the primary cause of death in these cases was COVID-19 or if there were other alternate causes.
... According to the latest state data, 20.4 million fully vaccinated individuals, 10,430 post-vaccination cases (0.051%) have been identified.
That's one in almost 2,000 vaccinated Californians reporting a breakthrough case.
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Jul 18, 2021 | www.news-medical.net
Background
Recently, India has seen a significant rise in new COVID-19 cases predominantly caused by the delta variant (B.1.617.2) of SARS-CoV-2. Similar to the alpha (B.1.1.7), beta (B.1.351), and gamma (P.1) variants, the delta variant has gained beneficial mutations in the spike protein , which make it more infectious and pathogenic than previously circulating variants.
The delta variant belongs to the B.1.617 lineage that is currently circulating in more than 50 countries. Because of its significant threat to public health, the delta variant has been designated as the Variant of Concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization.
Studies investigating vaccine efficacy against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants have indicated that the delta variant is partially resistant to vaccine-induced antibodies. A study conducted in the UK has indicated that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines is 88% effective in preventing symptomatic disease caused by the delta variant.
In the current study, the scientists have described the transmission of delta variants among family members who were attending a wedding ceremony with 92 guests. The wedding events were held outside in a large open-air tent, and all guests were fully vaccinated.
Important observationsThe scientists identified a total of six individuals at the wedding ceremony who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were symptomatic. Of them, one developed severe COVID-19 requiring monoclonal antibody infusion and one died eventually. Based on encounter timings and viral sequence similarities, the scientists suggested that two persons traveling from India probably have transmitted the delta variant to other guests during the wedding events.
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Of two guests from India, one was a man without any comorbidities, and one was a woman with diabetes. They both received the 2 nd dose of Covaxin (BBV152) 10 days before traveling to the wedding venue. Moreover, they tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 before boarding the flight.
Soon after developing symptoms including fatigue, cough, and fever, both guests from India tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. At day 6 post-wedding, the man without comorbidity was admitted to a hospital because of worsening symptoms. One month after the wedding, he died due to COVID-19 related complications.
Four other guests who also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 had confirmed interactions with the guests from India. Of 4 guests who were fully immunized with the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, one developed severe COVID-19 that required infusion of monoclonal antibodies.
Testing of viral variantNasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from all six guests and analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect viral variants. All samples tested positive for the original Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2 and negative for the alpha variant. All positive samples were subsequently sequenced by Swift Normalase Amplicon Panels with multiple overlapping amplicons to identify the causative variant. The findings revealed that all six guests were infected with the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.617.2).
Study significanceSix vaccine breakthrough cases identified in the study highlight the notion that antibodies elicited by Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2, Moderna mRNA-1273, and Covaxin BBV152 may not be sufficient to provide full protection against the delta variant. Although some people fail to develop adequate immunity in response to vaccination, none of the patients identified in the study had a history of vaccine failure.
As mentioned by the scientists, mutations in three antigenic regions of the spike receptor-binding domain (450–469 IDf, 480–499 IDg, and 522–646 IDh) could potentially reduce the susceptibility of delta variant to antibody-mediated neutralization.
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Jul 18, 2021 | www.cdc.gov
Defining a vaccine breakthrough infection
For the purpose of this surveillance, a vaccine breakthrough infection is defined as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen in a respiratory specimen collected from a person ≥14 days after they have completed all recommended doses of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-authorized COVID-19 vaccine.
Identifying and investigating hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough casesAs of May 1, 2021, CDC transitioned from monitoring all reported vaccine breakthrough cases to focus on identifying and investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases due to any cause. This shift will help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance.
Previous data on all vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC from January–April 2021 are available .
State health departments report vaccine breakthrough cases to CDC. CDC now monitors reported hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases for clustering by patient demographics, geographic location, time since vaccination, vaccine type, and SARS-CoV-2 lineage. Reported data include hospitalized or fatal breakthrough cases due to any cause, including causes not related to COVID-19.
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As of July 12, 2021, more than 159 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
During the same time, CDC received reports from 48 U.S. states and territories of 5,492 patients with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died.
Total number of vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC Hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC 5,492 Female 2,680 (49%) People aged ≥65 years 4,109 (75%) Asymptomatic infections 1,107 (20%) Hospitalizations* 5,189 (94%) Deaths† 1,063 (19%)
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Jul 15, 2021 | www.boston.com
Infections and even hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have begun to increase since the Fourth of July weekend. And it turns out that those vaccinated against the disease aren't completely immune, as state officials revealed that there have been thousands of breakthrough infections -- and even dozens of deaths -- among people who have gotten their shots since the rollout began.
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As of July 10, 4,450 vaccinated people in Massachusetts had tested positive for COVID-19 since the rollout began this past winter, according to the state's Department of Public Health.
That 's just over 0.1 percent -- or one in a thousand -- of the 4,195,844 people in Massachusetts who were fully vaccinated at the time.
Of that tiny faction, the overwhelming majority of cases weren't severe.
DPH officials say that 303 -- or 6.8 percent -- of the breakthrough infections involved hospitalization and a total of 79 vaccinated individuals in Massachusetts have died.
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Since June 25, the average number of new positive COVID-19 tests in the state has nearly doubled, from 64 to 122. DPH officials also reported 208 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the first single-day report over 200 since early June , a time when the state's testing rate was nearly a third higher.
Over the same time period, the state's positivity rate more than doubled from 0.31 percent to 0.72 percent.
Following a steady decline this spring, hospitalizations have also increased from a low of 80 statewide COVID-19 patients on July 4 to 102 as of Tuesday.
...
According to the CDC, the Delta accounted for 10 percent of new cases in Massachusetts as of June 22, but that data is now nearly a month old -- and predates the current uptick.
Cassandra Pierre, a Boston Medical Center epidemiologist and Boston University professor, says the recent uptick in overall cases in "somewhat concerning" given the national rise of the Delta variant.
"We have some data to show that the delta variant is responsible for more hospitalizations than the previous dominant variant and while the jury is out on whether it's also more virulent (capable of causing severe illness) we've begun to see COVID-related death rates rise in some of the hardest hit states," Pierre told Boston in an email.
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While experts have predicted a mild, seasonal uptick in COVID-19 cases this fall, Pierre says the recent increase is earlier than anticipated. She noted that the rainy weather over the Fourth of July weekend may have pushed more gatherings and activities indoors.
DPH guidance says that unvaccinated resident should continue to wear masks when near people outside their household, especially indoors. While the Delta variant has caused some cities and organizations to extend that mask guidance to all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, the still-low case rates have yet to induce such a move in Massachusetts.
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State officials say they don't have a breakdown of the recent infections among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, in part because the data on breakthrough cases is reported separately (while health care providers report all positive tests directly to the state, breakthrough cases are first reported to the CDC, and then to state officials).
However, earlier data on breakthrough infection obtained by the Herald through a public records request suggests that there have been 543 breakthrough cases between June 19 and July 10. That's roughly 30 percent of the 1,809 positive cases reported by the state over the same time period, meaning 70 percent of new cases were among the minority of residents who were not fully vaccinated.
... over 83 percent of Massachusetts adults have gotten at least one shot
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Jul 16, 2021 | www.khou.com
There's quite a bit about COVID-19 and vaccines that we still don't know.
While the vaccines are up to 95 percent effective against COVID-19, there have been breakthrough cases. That's where those who are vaccinated test positive. The CDC was monitoring all reported breakthroughs . However, back in May, as more people got vaccinated, the feds transitioned to focusing on cases where someone went to the hospital or died. They said that data would have the greatest importance.
"The question is are we getting more cases than we should be seeing as breakthrough cases," Dr. Jill Roberts at USF Health said. "That's really hard to determine because there isn't a good source of data, so there's a lot of people looking at this. They're sequencing this strain from the people who got breakthrough cases to see if it's really Delta variant or if the thing has mutated again."
"We're trying to figure out what's going on. Is this really, truly a vaccine failure or is it expected numbers? And without the data, we can't tell," she added.
Dr. Roberts says she would like to see more information on variants – like which populations contracted them, if they're vaccinated, and what they do for living so doctors can have a better idea of infection control.
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Jul 18, 2021 | www.poynter.org
As states cut back on their COVID-19 data collection and fail to document "breakthrough" cases , we are left to guess how often and where people are being infected. I have said this a few times and now it is becoming real.
Read deeper to let me explain why the phrase "breakthrough" may be a disservice to the public.
First, consider the case unfolding in Las Vegas, where the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports :
At least 11 employees of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a party on June 7, according to Southern Nevada Health District emails obtained through records requests by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation's Documenting COVID-19 project . The emails, which were shared with the Review-Journal, indicate that eight of the employees had been fully vaccinated in December and January, meaning that the virus had "broken through" the protection of inoculation.
Two other employees who were infected had received one dose of a double-dose vaccination. One was unvaccinated. At least 10 of the 11 had the delta variant, a more easily transmissible strain of the virus.
One question is whether the vaccines had been properly stored. But the hospital that administered them said there was no problem with storage. Was there something unique about this party that made transmission more possible?
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and some states have stopped gathering as much data as they once did. Again, the Las Vegas Journal-Review:
Beginning May 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped monitoring all reported vaccine breakthrough cases, focusing instead on those resulting in hospitalization or death. The state of Nevada and the health district, in turn, stopped reporting totals of identified cases.
However, in a June 22 email, a health district official told other agency officials there had been 471 identified breakthrough cases in Clark County, with 53 resulting in hospitalization and eight in death. In other words, there were nearly 10 times as many breakthrough cases identified as were publicly disclosed.
Nobody promised that there would be no breakthroughs. As WCVB explains , as with any vaccine -- especially one protecting against a fast-changing virus -- some fully vaccinated people will still get sick or become virus carriers. Remember, even in breakthrough cases, vaccinated patients are far less likely to become seriously ill.
The Atlantic raises the issue of whether using the word "breakthrough" is harmful to the public's understanding. Because, really, these are expected infections:
The thing to know about the COVID-19 vaccines is that they're flame retardants, not impenetrable firewalls, when it comes to the coronavirus. Some vaccinated people are still getting infected, and a small subset of these individuals is still getting sick -- and this is completely expected .
We're really, really bad at communicating that second point, which is all about breakthroughs, a concept that has, not entirely accurately, become synonymous with vaccine failure. It's a problem that goes far beyond semantics: Bungling the messaging around our shots' astounding success has made it hard to convey the truly minimal risk that the vaccinated face, and the enormous gamble taken by those who eschew the jabs .
The CDC has a definition for "breakthrough cases." And, the CDC says:
As of July 6, 2021, more than 157 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
During the same time, CDC received reports from 48 U.S. states and territories of 5,186 patients with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died.
(CDC)
Keep in mind that the CDC no longer gathers "breakthrough" data unless the person ends up in the hospital. This means that it misses a lot of cases since we know from the data that most breakthrough cases do not result in sickness serious enough to send a person to the hospital. To get an idea of what the data looks like when all "breakthrough" cases are reported, look at the January through April data , before the CDC changed its rules. More than 10,000 cases were reported in that timeframe.
I like the way The Atlantic put all of this in perspective:
The overwhelming majority of the COVID-19 cases we're seeing are among the unvaccinated. And when the virus does affect the immunized, it seems to accumulate to lower levels, and spread less enthusiastically to new hosts; it's causing, on average, milder and more transient symptoms.
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Jul 13, 2021 | www.nakedcapitalism.com
Drugmakers' Spending on Stock, Dividends and Executive Pay Exceeds Research, Democrats Say Posted on July 11, 2021 by Jerri-Lynn Scofield
By Michael McAuliff. Originally published at Kaiser Health News .
The largest drug companies are far more interested in enriching themselves and investors than in developing new drugs, according to a House committee report released Thursday that argues the industry can afford to charge Medicare less for prescriptions.
The report by the House Oversight and Reform Committee says that contrary to pharmaceutical industry arguments that large profits fund extensive research and innovation, the major drug companies plow more of their billions in earnings back into their own stocks, dividends and executive compensation.
And they can do it largely because Congress has imposed few restrictions on their pricing in the United States" including in the Medicare program, which is not permitted to negotiate drug prices, House Democrats say.
"What we have found is shocking," said Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). "Drug companies are actively and intentionally targeting the United States for price increases, often while cutting prices in the rest of the world."
According to the data crunched by the committee, the 14 largest drug manufacturers paid themselves and investors $578 billion from 2016 to 2020 through dividends and stock buybacks, while investing $56 billion less" $522 billion" on research and development.
On top of that, the report says, some of that R&D money is spent researching ways to suppress competition, such as by filing hundreds of new, minor patents on older drugs that make it harder to produce generics.
"Despite Big Pharma's lip service about innovation, many drug companies are not actually spending significant portions of their research-and-development budget to discover innovative new treatments," Maloney told reporters in a conference call. "Instead, these companies are spending their research-and-development dollars on finding ways to game the system."
"How can Pharma say with a straight face "¦ that lower drug prices for Americans will have to come at the expense of research and development?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked on the call.
The release of the report during a congressional recess seemed aimed at least partly at boosting support for the House Democrats' Lower Drug Costs Now Act , which, among other things, would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, let Americans with private insurance pay those same rates and limit U.S. prices to an average price other countries pay.
Pelosi said she would like to see the measure, numbered H.R. 3, included in a massive bill that Democrats are preparing under what is known as the budget reconciliation process. That process allows taxing and spending bills to be packaged together and get though the Senate on a simple majority vote exempt from a filibuster. Democrats are expected to use the process for a number of key initiatives, including possible changes in Medicare eligibility and benefits, outlined by President Joe Biden and congressional leaders and panned by Republicans.
"With the savings on the lower drug prices, we can invest in transformational improvements in American health care," Pelosi said. "We have an historic opportunity to do so as we craft the reconciliation bill. We'll see how we proceed there."
Some more moderate Democrats have raised concerns about H.R. 3, in part echoing industry assertions that curbing drugmakers' revenues might cut their ability to innovate. Pelosi can afford to have only a handful of Democrats defect in the House, and all 50 Democrats in the Senate are needed to pass a reconciliation measure.
Among the starker examples the report highlights, the company Novo Nordisk spent twice as much on executive pay and buying back its own stock as on R&D over the five years.
The drugmaker Amgen especially cashed in on the 2017 tax cuts pushed through a Republican Congress, spending five times as much on buybacks as on research, the report says.
According to the report, if the 14 large companies maintain roughly their current practices, they will pay themselves and investors $1.15 trillion over the next decade, which the committee notes is double the estimated cost of H.R. 3.
The report also singles out internal documents from the pharmaceutical giant AbbVie as an illustration of "research and development" being aimed at suppressing cheaper competition, in this case by seeking new minor patent enhancements on the rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira, which costs $77,000 a year.
"An internal presentation emphasized that one objective of the "˜enhancement' strategy was to "˜raise barriers to competitor ability to replicate,'" the report says, likely delaying lower-priced biosimilar drugs at least until 2023. It also notes that the company identified about $5.19 billion in R&D for Humira, about 7.4% of the drug's net U.S. revenue.
In another case, the report highlights an internal presentation from Celgene, which makes the $16,744-a-month cancer drug Revlimid and has since been bought by Bristol Myers Squibb.
The report says Celgene targeted the United States for its profitable price hikes and admitted in a presentation that it was because of the country's "highly favorable environment with free-market pricing."
In some other cases, the combined $3.2 billion that the 14 companies' top management earned over the five years was conditioned on U.S. price hikes.
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk said its buybacks were entirely justified and included them in what he described as the company's overall long-term investments.
"These investments have led to the discovery of innovative treatments that have made substantial impacts on peoples' lives," said Michael Bachner, director of communications for Novo Nordisk.
"Given the complex challenges in the health care system, we remain committed to developing solutions in cooperation with policymakers and other stakeholders," he said. "We will continue to work towards maintaining a sustainable business that will foster innovation and provide patients with access to needed new therapies."
Frank Benenati, a spokesperson for AbbVie, took issue with the report's emphasis on Humira's R&D costs. He said the report "is misleading in that it focuses on the R&D spend for one drug, not the total R&D spend, which was approximately $50 billion since 2013."
Other companies did not immediately answer requests for comment, but a spokesperson for the industry's lobbying arm, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the release of the report was political and aimed at backing legislation that PhRMA said would harm Medicare.
"While we can't speak to specific examples cited in the report, this partisan exercise is clearly designed to garner support for an extreme bill that will erode Medicare protections and access to treatments for seniors," said PhRMA spokesperson Brian Newell. "Every year, biopharmaceutical research companies invest tens of billions of dollars in the research and development of new cures and treatments, as well as our significant investments in time and resources creating treatments and vaccines to combat the global pandemic."
Despite the report, he said, net prices on drugs are coming down, when rebates to customers are included. He added that the greater problems are with high deductibles charged by insurers and with profits taken by middlemen such as pharmacy benefit managers.
"We are committed to working with policymakers on commonsense, bipartisan solutions that address the real challenges patients face," Newell said. "Working together we can make sure medicines are affordable and accessible for everyone."
timbers , July 11, 2021 at 7:25 am
It's good Nancy Pelosi said those really mean things about drug companies on the call and Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney told us she was shocked SHOCKED the committee found that gambling was going on in the casino and that Dems are pushing this NOW when they now know for sure they can't pass it because President Machin will veto it.
And kudos to article being fair and balanced by quoting the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America without breaking out into hysterical laughter:
"Despite the report, he said, net prices on drugs are coming down, when rebates to customers are included. He added that the greater problems are with high deductibles charged by insurers and with profits taken by middlemen such as pharmacy benefit managers. "
It's all those millionaire pharmacy managers and assorted working class folk that is driving up the cost of drugs.
Nikkikat , July 12, 2021 at 2:54 pm
I also chuckled at Maloney being SHOCKED, shocked I tell you!
We all known we were fronting the money for R and D and paying the highest prices in the world. We also know that Pelosi and the rest are not going to do anything about it.jo6pac , July 11, 2021 at 8:11 am
Of course they do they're not the late Dr. Silk.
Arizona Slim , July 11, 2021 at 8:21 am
Dr. Salk was truly one-of-a-kind.
When I was a younger Slim and in the employ of the University of Pittsburgh, I noticed the revered status of Salk Hall. It was considered to be a very special part of the Pitt campus.
On another note, this part of the post really bopped me over the head:
"[W]ould allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices."
Sounds good, but just how hard of a bargain is Medicare going to drive? IMHO, the harder the better, but won't those Medicare negotiators eventually want to take jobs in the pharmaceutical industrial complex?
jo6pac , July 11, 2021 at 9:15 am
Thanks for the correct spelling and story
Arizona Slim , July 11, 2021 at 10:03 am
You're welcome!
On a somewhat related note, I also worked on the University of Arizona campus. While there, I knew the man who shot that famous photo of the little girl taking the oral vaccine with numerous adults looking on. Photographer was George Kew, and darn if I can find that photo online.
The Rev Kev , July 11, 2021 at 10:11 am
Not this one by any chance, Slim? You have to click the one under "˜Images'-
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jonas-Salk/images-videos
Arizona Slim , July 11, 2021 at 1:28 pm
No. This was the oral vaccine that was developed by Dr. Sabin. ISTR George telling me that his photo was featured in Life magazine.
Mikel , July 11, 2021 at 8:17 am
"How can Pharma say with a straight face "¦ that lower drug prices for Americans will have to come at the expense of research and development?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked on the call.
Because they will cut R&D further to maintain their big pay days and perceived status. Not too subtle. That is what they are saying.
When people show you who they are, believe them.allan , July 11, 2021 at 10:27 am
Throw in the billions that Big Pharma spends on marketing prescription drugs directly to consumers,
legal only in the US and New Zealand (say it ain't so, Jacinda)
and which can lead to worse health outcomes, and you have a real problem:"¦ For health care that is mediated by a clinician's order or prescription,
DTC [Direct To Consumer] advertising by manufacturers increases the need for clinicians
to help patients understand product claims, medical need, cost, and nonmedical alternatives.Evidence that physicians have been either misled or otherwise persuaded to act based on fraudulent pharmaceutical marketing in recent decades, however, suggests that professionals may need further education or support to serve as the arbiter of deceptive marketing.3 Moreover, the expectation that clinicians will prioritize the patient's well-being in making care recommendations breaks down when the clinician is linked with the manufacturer, as is the case with some advertised products that help patients to find a physician who can prescribe without ever meeting the patient face to face. Scrutiny of such arrangements to ensure they do not undermine the intent of existing licensure and regulatory regimes that govern prescribing seems warranted.
"¦ Patients' trust in physicians puts them in a position to help mitigate the harms of DTC advertising. However, trust in physicians and health care institutions may be at stake if medical marketing by practitioners, health care organizations, and manufacturers of health care products continues to increase unchecked.
Christopher Horne , July 12, 2021 at 2:40 am
Also, the many perks their salespeople use to get doctors to perscribe
the drugs! Conference attendance and travel, meals, vacations and God
knows what else. After all, the bottom line is the companies have to sell
the drugs in order to make the big profits.John Zelnicker , July 11, 2021 at 11:12 am
So, PhRMA says negotiating prices with Medicare will harm the program and "erode Medicare protections and access to treatments for seniors".
Yeah, right! They're going to stop selling drugs that are still insanely profitable if they can't charge even more insanely profitable prices. /s
Christopher Horne , July 12, 2021 at 2:43 am
"¦.And I gots some fine swampland in Florida for sale for you.
Sickening. No doubt the rationale is "˜if I don't do it, someone else will.bill dietrich , July 11, 2021 at 11:15 am
Stock-buy-back operations, were illegal until 1982, when Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman John Shad, a former Wall Street CEO, redefined unlawful "stock manipulation" to exclude stock buybacks. Another joke on us by R Reagan. https://banyanhill.com/buybacks-destroy-corporations/
drumlin woodchuckles , July 11, 2021 at 6:48 pm
If an SEC Chairman can redefine stock buybacks as not unlawful stock manipulation, then another SEC Chairman can un-redefine stock buybacks back to being unlawful stock manipulation.
Perhaps Congress could make accepting an SEC Chair nominee contingent upon that nominee's willingness to un-redefine stock buybacks back to being illegal. Perhaps it the confirmed nominee breaks such a promise, Congress can authorize zero funding for SEC until SEC Chair issues such a ruling.
Hayek's Heelbiter , July 11, 2021 at 11:32 am
And you mustn't forget that a huge amount of the basic research funded by the taxpayers is cherrypicked and then financialized by Big Pharma.
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/10/2329
This report shows that NIH funding contributed to published research associated with every one of the 210 new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration from 2010""2016. Collectively, this research involved >200,000 years of grant funding totaling more than $100 billion. The analysis shows that >90% of this funding represents basic research related to the biological targets for drug action rather than the drugs themselves.
Susan the other , July 11, 2021 at 12:20 pm
Whereas it's a perverse incentive to tax big oil's corporate profits (because they will just invest in capital improvements for a business that is already operating beyond full capacity "" a business that needs to be restricted to contain CO2 emissions as well as conserve oil "" it is a very good idea to tax the crap out of pharma's corporate profits because they haven't been "capitalists" for as long as I can remember. They need to start being actual modern pharmaceutical companies. They should also be deprived of any government help-at-all-whatsoever until they stop profiteering, and if they do not comply then it's time to nationalize them too. Good riddance.
Adam Eran , July 11, 2021 at 12:27 pm
This imbalance between C-suite pay and R&D may be new, but Marcia Angell wrote years ago that big pHRMA paid 55% of its gross for marketing, but only 15% for R&D (in NYRB). Most of that R&D is targeted at extending the patent life of already patented drugs (think: "Time release viagra").
Mariana Mazzucato's TED talk about government-as-innovator notes that 75% of pharmaceutical innovation comes from government-funded research.
bill dietrich , July 11, 2021 at 1:51 pm
Stock-buy-back operations, were illegal until 1982, when Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman John Shad, a former Wall Street CEO, redefined unlawful "stock manipulation" to exclude stock buybacks. Another joke on us by R Reagan. https://banyanhill.com/buybacks-destroy-corporations/
lincoln , July 11, 2021 at 1:53 pm
The Lower Drug Costs Now Act sounds like a very good idea. U.S. consumers have been overcharged for essential medicines for far too long. And drug manufacturers unfortunately play a big part in this. But drug prices are also high because of an extensive chain of rebates (aka kickbacks) between drug manufacturers and insurers. I hope this legislation will address the price manipulating actions of health insurers and Pharmacy Benefit Managers as well.
John Buell , July 11, 2021 at 2:40 pm
I would like any data on spending for marketing. Just from viewing commercial TV I surmise the ad budget is quite large and perhaps even greater than when Dr. Angell wrote
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Jul 14, 2021 | www.forbes.com
KEY FACTS
"Given how transmissible this variant is," Gottlieb told CBS News' This Week it's likely about 85% of the U.S. population will end up with some level of Covid-19 immunity.
With about 55% of the population at least partly immune due to vaccination and one-third of Americans having been naturally infected, Gottlieb noted that millions of Americans remain vulnerable and now have a "choice in terms of how [they] acquire immunity."
PROMOTED
Even those immune through natural infection are at heightened risk, Gottlieb said, pointing to data showing immunity among individuals naturally infected with Covid-19""and particularly those who are older""declines after about eight months.
The physician predicted Covid will effectively act as a "second circulating flu this winter," though he said its prominence "could be a little worse." CRUCIAL QUOTE
"I wouldn't be declaring mission accomplished. I think this is going to be a long fight," Gottlieb said Sunday. "You're seeing a decoupling between cases, hospitalizations and deaths because there's so much immunity in the population""not just through vaccination""but also through prior infection... But this is likely to become an endemic virus. We're going to have to deal with it."
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Jul 07, 2021 | www.cnn.com
In a brief statement issued on Monday, the government said that as of June 6, the vaccine provided 64% protection against infection. In May -- when the Alpha variant dominated in Israel and the Delta strain had not yet spread widely -- it found that the shot was 95.3% effective against all infections. The government added that the vaccine was now 93% effective in preventing severe disease and hospitalizations, compared to 97% reported in the medical journal The Lancet in May. The statement cited top line figures, but did not release underlying data or other details about its analysis. A team at Hebrew University said in a separate statement that it was too soon to tell how much the Delta variant was affecting vaccine efficacy.In another statement Tuesday, Israel's Ministry of Health released some data about illness caused by Covid-19 and offered an expanded explanation of the vaccine's protectiveness. Despite an apparent decline in the vaccine's ability to prevent all infections during the spread of the Delta variant, the statement emphasized its continuing benefit in preventing severe cases.
Israel has deployed the Pfizer vaccine to everyone over the age of 12, and its early and quick rollout gave scientists one of the first real-world snapshots of its efficacy.
The government said the drop in efficacy is likely due to the spread of the Delta variant in Israel. This more infectious strain of the virus was first identified in India earlier this year and is also known as B.1.617.2.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN more granular data was needed to determine the exact reason for the drop in efficacy in Israel. While "the Israelis know what they're doing," the data is sparse, Fauci said, adding that the circumstances of the reported drop in efficacy are unclear.
Still, Dr. Richard Besser, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN the data from Israel is worth paying attention to, because Israel started vaccinating before the US and so "if there's going to be a problem, we'll likely see it there before we see it here in the United States." "I take this as actually encouraging information, that these vaccines are still highly effective in terms of preventing hospitalizations, severe illness and death," Besser said.
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Jul 14, 2021 | www.reuters.com
Fact Check-Claim that vaccinated people are six times more likely to die from the Delta variant than those who are unvaccinated is misleading
6 MIN READ
Social media posts have claimed that those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine are more six times more likely to die from being infected by variants than those who have not been inoculated. While the data was indeed taken from a Public Health England (PHE) briefing held in June, it was taken out of context.
Several blogs have spread the claim and screenshots of the blogs are being shared on social media.
The headline of a blog post, published on June 23 by DC Clothesline, reads: "Vaccinated people found to be 600% more likely to die from covid "variants" than unvaccinated people" ( archive.fo/nF2fM ).
"Death rate from variant COVID virus six times higher for vaccinated than unvaccinated, UK health data show," reads a headline from a similar blog published in Life Site News on June 18 ( archive.fo/yQAi3 ).
Examples of the blogs being shared on social media can be found ( here ), ( here ) and ( here ).
Referring to data compiled by Public Health England (PHE) in a technical briefing released on June 18 regarding the SARS-CoV-2 variants ( here ), the authors of the blogs make several calculations.
On page 12 of the briefing, it shows that 26 people have died since February 1 after testing positive for the Delta variant of the virus, having also been fully vaccinated for more than two weeks. In total, 4,087 tested positive more than two weeks after their second dose. Meanwhile, 35,521 people who were unvaccinated tested positive for the Delta variant and 34 people died.
The authors then divide the number of deaths by the total number of people who tested positive for the Delta variant and found the rate of death to be 0.000957 for unvaccinated individuals and 0.00636 for those who have been inoculated.
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Jul 14, 2021 | www.fairobserver.com
In early 2020, the scientific community went into hyperdrive to develop not one but several vaccines against COVID-19. In the US, the government and the medical community worked overtime to set up the infrastructure to get doses into arms around the country. Clinics and volunteers have jumped into action at a community level to make sure, as of this week, that 58% of adults have gotten at least one shot and over 70% of those older than 65 are fully vaccinated.
But all this effort is now hitting up against resistance. Or hesitancy. Or barriers to access. States are cutting back on their vaccine orders from the federal authorities. Daily vaccination rates have dropped nearly 20% from last week. Employers are basically bribing people to get their shots. Millions of people aren't even bothering to show up for their second doses.
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May 12, 2021 | angrybearblog.com
Let me follow up briefly on my post from yesterday on vaccine hesitancy.
Demeaning people is the first step towards ignoring their interests or even persecuting them. Jason Brennan urges us to ignore the welfare of the unvaxxed by painting a picture of them as moral terrorists or extortionists. He holds them responsible for their confusion and fears. He pretends that everyone is well-informed and knows how to evaluate scientific evidence, and that everyone has loads of time to keep up on the latest covid news. Then he blames people who fail to get vaccinated for their poor choices.
These are the key facts, as I see the matter:
- Many people are not vaccinated, vaccination rates are slowing, rates of hesitancy are high.
- Most unvaccinated people are not hard-core anti-vaxxers. Many are busy or have difficulty figuring out how or where to get vaccinated. Some are scared of needles. Some just worry about the safety of the vaccines. Young people are likely to prove difficult to vaccinate, because they are at very low risk of dying from covid.
- Unvaccinated people are a threat to themselves, to people who for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated (a small group, apparently), and to people who are vaccinated but have compromised immune systems. They are also (presumably) a very, very small risk to people who are relatively healthy and vaccinated.
I got covid in December during a visit to the hospital. While I was in the hospital – with an active diagnosis of covid, being cared for by doctors and nurses whose job it was to care for people with active covid – I had several nurses who said they would not get vaccinated, at least not right away. My sense is they were worried about possible side-effects. They were not malevolent, they were (relatively) well-informed about the risks of covid and of the vaccines, and they were not as far as I could tell making a political statement. Their worries were understandable, but their planned choices were (arguably) terribly misguided given their high exposure at work.
We owe it to the unvaxxed to at least try to persuade them to get vaccinated. This means spending money: on education, outreach, transportation. It means doing research to figure out what works. Maybe we should go further and pressure people to get vaxxed or use positive incentives (money, beer, pot) to get everyone to vax up. The case for using pressure and/or incentives is strengthened by third party benefits.
The Biden administration needs to orchestrate a vaccination campaign taking into account our polarized political situation. That's hard. Polarization means that the government cannot simply require people to get vaxxed; even pressuring them will be controversial. It means that people need to hear pro-vax messages from people they trust – their doctors, religious leaders, family members, etc., not from politicians. This makes communication much more difficult. President Biden can get lots of free press to spread the word on vaccines, but if vaccination becomes closely associated with him some Republicans may decline to get their shots.
Brennan's characterization of the situation is uncharitable, inaccurate, and politically destructive. May 13, 2021 6:51 am
I can see both sides, but neither in a very good light. It is easy for one to make good decisions when one has all the relevant information, but it is not a realistic expectation for most of life's important decisions. Everyone is afraid of something and most people are ruled by their worst fears. Good judgement seems to be a lost art.
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