USA Today gives it a shot
Fact check: Vaccines protect against contracting, spreading COVID-19
The claim: The COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting or spreading the virus, so it can’t protect others
More than 70% of adults in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Children started receiving their vaccines in early November, and booster shots may be on the way for most Americans.
COVID-19 cases dropped after the vaccines were introduced in the spring. But on Facebook, some still doubt whether the shots work.
“Since the (vaccine) doesn’t stop you from getting it or spreading it… How …are you actually protecting others,” reads text in a Nov. 13 post from a page called The Lion’s Roar.
OK, so, one rando posts something and the USA Today fact checks? OK, fine, this is the type of thing you see all around, and people do actually wonder, because we keep seeing articles in the news about this very thing. Rando’s wouldn’t be posting if they weren’t seeing this somewhere
In clinical trials, all three vaccines authorized in the U.S. were found to be safe and effective at preventing severe COVID-19 cases. Since then, public health officials have acknowledged the shots aren’t 100% effective at preventing infection – and research suggests immunity wanes over time.
Hence the reason I took the booster. I got the vaccine originally because they said I had a 94% chance with Pfizer stopping me from getting the Chinese coronavirus in the first place.
But that doesn’t mean the COVID-19 vaccines are worthless. Experts and public health officials say they do protect people from getting infected and spreading the virus.
“This is false information,” Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology and molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Yale University, said in an email. “Vaccines provide significant protection from ‘getting it’ – infection – and ‘spreading it’ – transmission – even against the delta variant.”
OK, so, that’s saying that you can, in fact, get it and spread it when vaccinated. This is why you see rando’s on the Internet saying it doesn’t provide protection like the Experts and Fact Checkers say. Remember, the headline says that it protects from contracting and spreading COVID. It would probably be more proper to say “It’s like wearing sunscreen: you have a much lower chance of getting sunburn than when not wearing.” Of course, you can’t spread sunburn.
The problem is, the fact check spends more time on saying “you have less of a chance on getting COVID if vaccinate” along with “you’re symptoms will be less severe”, than proving the headline.
Fully vaccinated people made up about 9% of reported COVID-19 deaths in 13 U.S. jurisdictions between April and July, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC studies have also shown unvaccinated people are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19.
The agency says on its website that, while breakthrough infections are possible, “most people who get COVID-19 are unvaccinated.” Experts told USA TODAY the shots provide considerable protection against infection and transmission.
“Yes, it is true that vaccinated individuals can also be infected by and spread SARS-CoV-2 to others,” Shweta Bansal, an associate professor of biology at Georgetown University, said in an email. “However, the evidence is crystal clear that risk of transmission for a vaccinated individual is significantly lower than for an unvaccinated individual.”
Um
Ireland.
94% of adult population vaccinated.
Mandatory indoor mask mandates.
Mandatory vaccine passports.
COVID cases past month up by 275%.
Back under partial lockdown, full lockdown could be imposed before Christmas.
Keep complying.
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 18, 2021
You may complain about the messenger, but, the message is factual.
Research indicates vaccinated individuals who get infected with COVID-19 can transmit the virus at a similar level as unvaccinated people. But data also show they get better faster than the unvaccinated, meaning they may be less likely to spread the virus to others. Several studies awaiting peer review back that up.
Wait, what? I thought the headline said it protected against transmission? And then the fact checker wonders why rando’s on the Internet wonder why in the heck they should take the vaccine. Articles like this just sow confusion. They would be best at just saying “look, you have less of a chance of getting it, and, if you do, the symptoms will mostly be much less severe and gone quicker. That’s why you want the vaccine.”
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that the COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting or spreading the virus, so it can’t protect others. While vaccinated individuals can get COVID-19, experts and public health officials say they are less likely to contract the virus than unvaccinated people. That means they’re also less likely to spread the virus to others. When vaccinated people do get sick, the chances of severe illness, hospitalization or death are low. Research indicates they also get better faster than their unvaccinated counterparts.
Um, they just spent all this time saying that you can, in fact, get COVID and spread it while vaccinated. How is rando’s statement false?
Read: Do Vaccines Stop People From Getting And Transmitting COVID? »