TheBrain wrote:...What I’d like to say here is that any medical expert who goes against Fauci et al’s and the mainstream media’s “narrative” on Covid, Covid treatments, and the Covid vaccine is discredited or worse “canceled.” This has been happening even to virologists and immunologists, including a former VP of Pfizer, Michael Yeadon.
Also, numerous times I’ve read (or watched in video) statements that the vaccine manufacturers themselves have claimed in their documentation that their vaccine doesn’t prevent infection or transmission. What these vaccines are supposed to do is lessen symptoms and thus the severity of disease. However, I haven’t personally reviewed such documentation to confirm this.
Hi Brain!
It sounds like you are frustrated and also have legitimate questions about different viewpoints on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.
Thirty years ago, my 5 year old son had 8 bouts of serious respiratory illness in 10 months of kindergarten, a few months after heart surgery (half bronchitis, half X-ray confirmed double pneumonia].He missed 30 days of kindergarten and had reduced lung capacity for many more days. I was thrilled when an allergist explained that I couldn't prevent cold viruses from entering my son's nose, but allergy shots to reduce the chronic nasal congestion and standing fluid in his lungs (!) would reduce the likelihood that the common cold would turn into weeks of hacking coughs for him. I was beyond relieved to use a drug that kept him out of the hospital and feel that way today now that he is vaccinated against COVID-19.
Here's a January 2021 source that seems reputable and provides a sense of how the vaccines might still be like my son's allergy shots, from a virus immunologist post-doc at Cambridge University, UK:
Coronavirus: few vaccines prevent infection – here’s why that’s not a problem
Asymptomatically infected people typically produce virus at lower levels. Though there is not a perfect relationship, usually more virus equals more disease. Therefore, vaccinated people are less likely to transmit enough virus to cause severe disease. This in turn means that the people getting infected in this situation are going to transmit less virus to the next susceptible person. ...
So, while sterilising immunity is often the ultimate goal of vaccine design, it is rarely achieved. Fortunately, this hasn’t stopped many different vaccines substantially reducing the number of cases of virus infections in the past. By reducing disease levels in individuals, this also reduces virus spread through populations, and this will hopefully bring the current pandemic under control.
And here are results from what is referred to as "real-world effectiveness" studies (as opposed to laboratory or clinical trial "efficacy" results) published just a few weeks ago (emphasis added)"
Preliminary information from Israel found people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine did not develop COVID-19 symptoms or transmit the disease, according to a Pfizer statement released March 11.
“It looks like 90% reduction in asymptomatic transmission. So that’s really good,” Hotez said when the data was made available. Practically speaking, that means the vaccine may enable people to produce antibodies that reduce virus levels in the nose and the mouth, making them less likely to be contagious. ... In a report published Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines were 90% effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection, including asymptomatic infection, among front-line essential workers...Pfizer also released study results Wednesday showing its mRNA vaccine with German partner BioNTech was still more than 90% effective six months after receiving a second dose, even against the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/hea ... 645698001/
Each of us has to make the decisions that feel right to us. Thanks for sharing your concerns, Brain!