https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/nolan-finley/2021/12/30/finley-cant-hide-covid-behind-jabs-masks/9033021002/
The omicron variant has illustrated that vaccines are a mitigator of COVID-19, not an eliminator. And it's teaching us there's no impenetrable shield that will keep us safe from the virus. We can't hide from it behind jabs and masks.
More in my circle of friends and family have COVID than at any point of the pandemic, and nearly all are fully vaccinated. But none have got much sicker than they would have with a cold or the flu. As of Dec. 25, almost 60% of cases of COVID-19 in the country were caused by the omicron variant, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That affirms the importance of getting vaccinated. But omicron has also exposed the reality that vaccines aren't working nearly as well as we hoped to prevent the spread of the virus.
And that calls into question the wisdom of vaccine mandates, especially as the science and efficacy of the vaccine can now be compared to other innovative COVID treatments like GlaxoSmithKline's Sotrovimab and other types of monoclonal antibodies effective against delta and other earlier variants of the virus.
If you get COVID and don't end up in the hospital or die, who cares? The vaccines have proven themselves effective in that regard. While case numbers have surged, deaths haven't kept pace.
A Carnival Cruise Lines ship that set sail just before Christmas required all passengers to be vaccinated and tested for COVID before they boarded. That didn't prevent a small outbreak from running through the ship, keeping it from docking at some of its scheduled ports.
That experience should inform policymaking. Dr. Anthony Fauci's call for a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel seems dated, now that we know vaccinated people can spread the virus the same as the unvaccinated.
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^ this op-ed from the Detroit News was printed today in my local (liberal) paper. Nothing that some here haven’t been saying for months, but it was encouraging just to see something like it in a newspaper that’s been parroting Fauci for 2 years.
If Bob’s vaccine doesn’t protect Steve from contracting COVID, the case for forcing Bob to get the vaccine is kneecapped. When they were first released, many hoped the positive externality from getting a vaccine would confer protection beyond the person receiving the shot - it ain’t there. So let’s stop making rules based on the vaccines we wish we had and instead provide guidance based on the vaccines we do have.
