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Vaccinated people transmit11/20/2023 ![]() Early evidence points toward vaccines reducing transmission of Covid-19, but by exactly how much remains unclear.Ī recent pre-print paper (not yet peer-reviewed) found that the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine reduces viral loads, a key marker that shapes how readily the virus can spread, four-fold between 12 and 28 days after the first dose. Transmission also has important practical consequences for the risks that arise as vaccinated individuals interact with everyone else, whether that’s in public parks, schools, households, or health care facilities. Rich countries are hoarding Covid-19 vaccines That threshold is herd immunity - where even people who haven’t been vaccinated or infected before are protected because so many of the people around them are immune. Vaccines serve not only to protect individuals but also, after a certain threshold of vaccination, the population as a whole. Key among them is how well vaccines work to block transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Though clinical trials give us confidence that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines block close to 95 percent of cases of the disease - thereby preventing the most severe outcomes of Covid-19 - there are still some uncertainties. “We have every reason to believe that these are among some of the very best vaccines that we have ever tested,” said Aaron Richterman, a fellow researching infectious diseases at the University of Pennsylvania. But, clearly, the rapid rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, like the ones developed by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, is our best path out of the crisis. Surely, this means we can stop wearing a face mask?Īs with so much else in this pandemic, there isn’t an easy answer for exactly when we can start to relax. ![]() The Oxford/AstraZeneca jab uses the same mechanism ( here).After months of exhausting isolation, widespread economic pain, and an extraordinary toll on human life and health, several Covid-19 vaccines are here. Likewise, the Johnson & Johnson (also referred to as Janssen) vaccine “is based on a replication-defective adenovirus, which means the adenovirus is incapable of reproducing”, he added. The mRNA shots developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna “contain only instructions for making spike protein and are incapable of generating virus particles, so nothing can be shed”, said Dr Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the infectious diseases division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, one of the world’s top teaching hospitals and part of Harvard Medical School, in a statement emailed to Reuters. None of the COVID-19 vaccines have this capability. ![]() Transmission would also require the vaccine to be live – and to be able to replicate and infect its host. Scientists note the potential risks associated with this ( here). It would involve genetically engineering a vaccine so immunity spreads through an animal population like a disease, rather than the disease itself spreading. While the possibility of researchers creating self-disseminating vaccines has been discussed in scientific literature ( here, here, here), this is not something that has been rolled out in humans. Meanwhile, the suggestion that COVID-19 vaccines have been designed for “intentional transmission” is also false. This topic has been addressed ( here) and ( here). However, experts have told Reuters that people cannot “shed” COVID-19 vaccines. “Shedding” is a term that was frequently used in the early days of the pandemic to describe people transmitting or emitting coronavirus particles. They transmit it through their pores, saliva, faeces, blood etc. In the post’s caption, the user writes: “It’s not shedding, it’s intentional transmission.” ( here)Ĭomments left underneath the post reveal a further misconception: “Help me understand does it mean donated blood from vaxxed/jabbed people will transmit the spike protein and consequently the patient gets to exhibit all the auto response immune system symptoms?” one user asks. The claim was initially made in a Facebook post comprising several screenshots from webpages that discuss the potential of future “self-spreading vaccines”. Vaccines against the novel coronavirus are not infectious and cannot be passed from person to person. Claims that COVID-19 vaccines have been designed so that recipients can transmit their inoculations have revealed misunderstandings of how these vaccines work.
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