Omicron — the latest variant of SARS-CoV-2 — is steadily working its way through populations with
high levels of immunity around the world. There are going to be many coronavirus cases in the coming
days and weeks, with little to stop the spread, even if existing immunity can still
prevent serious illness.
The United States, where Delta still reigns supreme for now, is r
eporting over 120,000 new daily
coronavirus cases. In Britain, Omicron cases are
surging.
In the United States, so-called breakthrough cases — infections among the vaccinated — were less
common before Omicron, affecting just small p
ercentage
of vaccinated people, by most counts. Now
breakthrough cases among the vaccinated are fast becoming the status quo.
The highly contagious Omicron stands to make the notion of a surprise breakthrough infection
“completely irrelevant,” said Ali Ellebedy, an associate professor of pathology and immunology at
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. This was always bound to happen: As more
Americans get vaccinated and more variants circulate, more infections are expected among the
vaccinated. But Omicron is speeding up the process.
So far, breakthrough cases have caused just a small fraction of the damage, compared to infections
among the unvaccinated. “There are many flavors of infection,” said Marc Lipsitch, a professor of
epidemiology at Harvard and the director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. There’s
infection, which means the virus is replicating in one’s body, and there’s infectiousness, which means
the virus is replicating in parts of the body in such a way that it could infect other people.
Initially, being fully vaccinated meant protection against most flavors of infection and their effects.
In September 2021, cases of Covid in unvaccinated people were about
six times as high as the
vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Deaths from Covid among
the unvaccinated were also around 12 times as high as deaths from Covid among the vaccinated.
Serious illness and hospitalizations were also less common among the vaccinated. And even when they
became infected, the vaccinated appeared l
ess likely to spread the virus to others.
Does it or doesn’t it?
Check % / Small
percentage of
Vaxed & Those
Choosing Natural
Immunity ?
The original vaccine
promise was to take
care of the virus &
variants. They failed.
Natural Immunity
isn’t less effective.
Prove it!
Used to, until
“immunized” became
something else.