Thread by @EricTopol

A @CellCellPress commentary yesterday entitled "Keeping Pace with the #SARSCoV2 Variants" states
"The evidence so far suggests that effectiveness against hospitalizations and symptomatic illness is highly preserved against Delta" cell.com/cell/fulltext/…
I'm calling it out. /1

For several weeks dating back to July, we have seen protection of vaccination for symptomatic infections drop down from >90% to <40% in Israel which was refuted, attributed to poor analysis, Simpson's paradox, and many other objections to @IsraelMOH reports /2

Those reports were since corroborated by others including @KPSCalResearch, @PHE_uk. Qatar and many other. But they were ignored and denied. /3

Last week 3 @CDCMMWRgov reports highlighted the reduction of vaccination protection against hospitalization by 10-15 per cent points among people age 65+. Just as was seen in Israel. /4

This culminated in @TheLancet commentary this week by 2 FDA scientists, @WHO, and others
"To date, none of these studies has provided evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease." That is pure denial.
thelancet.com/journals/lance… /5

By ignoring/denying data, fully replicated by many independent reports, all that does is detract from public trust and discount the ability for people to process 2 messages:
1-Vaccines are extremely effective
2-A 3rd dose will be necessary in some to counter the effect of waning

Denialism about any hole in the vaccination story isn't going to get us anywhere. Tell the hard truths. Protect the vaccinated, who have needed to know about this issue since it first surfaced. The anti-vaxxers will distort everything; fear of feeding that is unfounded.

Along these lines, yesterday's CDC report of a statistically significant 14 per cent point drop (91>77) vs hospitalization after 4 months for Pfizer's vaccine, irrespective of age, is notable cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…