5/ What counts as a high-risk occupation?
- Health care workers
- Teachers
- ? Corrections officers
- ? Staff of homeless shelters
- ?
6/ I think we need to be clear about why we're vaccinating 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
7/ If a lot of doctors & nurses called out sick for mild breakthrough infections,
hospitals would be understaffed
& we wouldn't be able to admit as many patients.
8/ If a lot of teachers called out sick for mild breakthrough infections,
schools would be understaffed
& we might have to close classrooms & schools.
9/ If a lot of prison guards called out sick for mild breakthrough infections,
prisons would be understaffed,
creating dangerous conditions for inmates & staff.
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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/ 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
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/…