We were highly critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci on this front last week, so it's worth doubling back to an interview Fauci gave a few nights ago in which he finally seemed to finally offer the obviously correct messaging. Yes, he conceded, it makes sense that vaccinated people can safely hang out and do things together. "What we’re saying right now, even though it isn’t backed by data, it’s backed by common sense that if you have two vaccinated people, and they want to get together, be they family members, or friends that you know, are vaccinated, you can start getting, as individual people, even though the risk is not zero," he said. Not zero risk, but... "The risk becomes extremely low when you have both parties vaccinated. So, we’re going to start seeing people saying, ‘Hey, the more people get vaccinated, I can have dinner with my family member that comes in.’” Watch:
Dr. Anthony Fauci urges all Americans to get vaccinated as soon as it is their turn, promising there will be "benefit both socially and personally, and from a public health standpoint." https://t.co/4hzSawki9u pic.twitter.com/FAmROWkwPm
— CNN (@CNN) February 26, 2021
Allahpundit notes that Fauci's comments came after yet another data dump showing that the vaccines are not only extremely effective at preventing COVID symptoms (and even more so at preventing serious symptoms and death), but also at blocking infection. In other words, vaccinated people are not major risks to other people. They are not vectors of the virus, even if they themselves won't get sick, which was a previous concern. More on the happy findings:
A single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine cuts the number of asymptomatic infections and could significantly reduce the risk of transmission, a new UK study suggests. The findings from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge indicated 75-per-cent protection from Covid-19. The results also point to a four-fold decrease in the risk of asymptomatic Covid infection among healthcare workers who have been vaccinated for more than 12 days – suggesting the first dose will significantly reduce the spread of the virus.
And that's after one dose. Multiple studies have shown the same thing on infection and transmission. Excellent news. How about some more? As expected, the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine sailed through FDA protocols, meaning that a third safe and highly efficacious vaccine will soon go to work to help defeat this pandemic inside the United States. Following the unanimous vote clearing the way for a final go-ahead, former FDA chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who is a careful and serious expert, sounded calm but unmistakably upbeat about this "game changer" and the likely ability to have 100 million Americans inoculated by the end of next month:
"The [J&J vaccine] will dramatically change the supply equation," says @scottgottliebmd. "We're looking at being able to vaccinate more than 100M Americans before the of March. That really is a gamechanger." pic.twitter.com/VFkMJlNA1O
— CNBC's Closing Bell (@CNBCClosingBell) February 26, 2021
The case for optimism is strong and growing stronger by the day:
Another cut on this:
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 28, 2021
These amounts are enough to fully vaccinate 70m Americans per month.
Skipping the math, but if we vaccinated at that pace—plus accounting for people who have already been vaxxed—it would be enough to reach ~70% of the adult (age 16+) population by April 30. https://t.co/dbNrlXo0En
One more fantastic set of data points, which is especially welcome considering how much pain and suffering has occurred in long term elder care facilities during the past year:
New virus cases have also fallen.
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 25, 2021
From late December to early February, new cases among nursing home residents fell by more than 80%, nearly double the rate of improvement in the general population. https://t.co/XDgP7wYBPf pic.twitter.com/YRWAw6gKQs