(Newser)
– For a brief moment last week, it looked like the CDC was giving us the news we were expecting: in reference to the actual study of nearly 4,000 vaccinated people, said the agency’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Monday that “our data … suggests … that vaccinated people don’t carry the virus, they don’t get sick” and therefore, like many extrapolated headlines, they can’t transmit or spread COVID-19. But scientists quickly withdrew this claim towards the New York News, and the CDC itself backed Walensky’s comments. The conclusion? We just don’t know it yet, experts say. While the data is clear that coronavirus vaccines, regardless of brand, are excellent for preventing serious illness and death, it is unclear to what extent they actually prevent infection, and whether a person is vaccinated. it can still be infected, it can still spread the virus.
Experts noted that none of the vaccines are 100% effective and Walensky’s comments might lead some to think so. It’s important to get these statistics right, they say, because if people mistakenly believe vaccines are 100% effective, they can stop participating in public health measures like wearing masks. And there is also the issue of variants, which are spreading more and more around the world and, in the case of some, can prevent the vaccine. At 21 universities, including the University of Colorado Boulder, one study aims to determine whether the Modern vaccine prevents COVID transmission. An epidemiologist told Quartz last month that he calculates an answer to the question in the “coming months” and that the site offers a summary of several population-level vaccine studies currently underway. (Read more stories about the coronavirus vaccine).