07-31-2021, 11:00 PM
I think the big problem is, how are they defining "breakthrough infection" ? As has been discussed here already, it's possible for a fully vaccinated person to get corona and have a mild-to-moderate upper respiratory infection only, or not even that and be apparently completely asymptomatic.
There has been some disagreement about the data, but at one recent point, it was claimed that the infected, vaccinated person can as easily infect others as an infected, unvaccinated person with Delta. So the "breakthrough rate" may not actually be that low -- but it also wouldn't matter that the breakthrough rate was high, except for the fact that there are so many unvaccinated still around.
The way I'm thinking about it is: suppose EVERYONE were vaccinated. There's no question that even under that circumstance, the virus could still potentially infect some people and be transmitted from person to person (since the vaccines are of course not 100%) ... nevertheless, the rates of everything would be dramatically reduced across the board, and the final death toll would be really, really low. It might even be akin to the common cold... that it goes around and around and around, and yes, some people get sick, but very, very few actually get severe illness or die. That's what I see the ultimate goal as being... we'll never be rid of this virus, but if we can get it to the point of being no more dangerous than the common cold.
There has been some disagreement about the data, but at one recent point, it was claimed that the infected, vaccinated person can as easily infect others as an infected, unvaccinated person with Delta. So the "breakthrough rate" may not actually be that low -- but it also wouldn't matter that the breakthrough rate was high, except for the fact that there are so many unvaccinated still around.
The way I'm thinking about it is: suppose EVERYONE were vaccinated. There's no question that even under that circumstance, the virus could still potentially infect some people and be transmitted from person to person (since the vaccines are of course not 100%) ... nevertheless, the rates of everything would be dramatically reduced across the board, and the final death toll would be really, really low. It might even be akin to the common cold... that it goes around and around and around, and yes, some people get sick, but very, very few actually get severe illness or die. That's what I see the ultimate goal as being... we'll never be rid of this virus, but if we can get it to the point of being no more dangerous than the common cold.