1/ Q&A with @NewYorker's Helen Rosner @hels
about what COVID booster shots can and can't do newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/w…
- who might benefit from a 3rd shot
- how to prevent breakthrough infections
4/ Most vaccines don't provide "sterilizing immunity," blocking all infections. This isn't a failure of vaccines. The goal is to prevent severe illness and death.
5/ Who needs boosters & why?
6/ So why not boost everyone?
7/ Why did the White House get out ahead of the @US_FDA & @CDCgov in announcing booster doses?
8/ What's the downside of booster doses to an individual?
9/ Vaccine effectiveness is your % risk reduction from vaxx as compared to an unvaxx'ed person in your community.
Your risk is still proportional to levels of transmission in your community.
The best way to reduce viral transmission in your community? Vaxx the unvaxx'ed.
10/ It is in our self-interest to vaccinate the rest of the world.
11/ What about mixing and matching COVID vaccines?
12/ Research takes time.
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2/ Are we giving boosters to people in high-risk occupations:
- To protect them because they're at high risk for severe disease?
OR
- For the safety of the workplace & to keep them on the job?
3/ There isn't good data to support giving boosters to people in high-risk occupations to protect THEM from severe disease.
1/ What's the BIGGEST DOWNSIDE to giving ALMOST EVERYONE boosters?
REINFORCING MISPERCEPTIONS that:
- Vaccines are silver bullets
- Breakthrough infections mean vaccines are failing
Vaccines are necessary but not sufficient.
2/ Vaccines provide a relative risk reduction.
Your risk of a SARS-CoV-2 infection after vaccination remains proportional to the level of transmission in your community.
The best way to minimize your risk isn't boosters. It's to address transmission in your community.
3/ How do you reduce transmission in your community and thereby reduce your risk?
- Vaccinated the UNvaccinated
- Mask (at least for now)
- Indoor ventilation & air filtration (we don't do NEARLY enough of this)
- Test 2-3 times/week & isolate infectious persons
1/ New research by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights @IREHR finds that Facebook has become an epicenter of COVID denial activism:
1/ How did Denmark get 95% of people 50+ fully vaccinated?
"citizens’ high and stable trust in their health authorities has been a crucial factor"
"lack of trust in authorities... is one of the primary reasons people refuse to get vaccinated"
2/ "transparent communication about all features of vaccines—including the negative ones—is key to sustain trust, even if in the short run it reduces vaccine acceptance" washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…
3/ "trust between citizens and the authorities ideally runs both ways, as authorities need to trust that citizens can weather bad news and still make responsible decisions" washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…