Poll: 71% of unvaccinated say booster doses mean vaccines aren’t working

[C C]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/...t-working/

INTRO: Over the past few weeks, federal health advisers pored over data on booster doses for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine and agonized over setting recommendations for who—if anyone—should get a third shot. Amid their deliberations, they continually noted an undeniable truth overshadowed their hand-wringing: no matter what they recommended, boosters will have minimal impact on the pandemic. Instead, the way to end the scourge is to have more people get their first shots.

After all the debate, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday overruled the agency's independent advisers. The director opened boosters to health workers and others with high exposure risks, in addition to the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions.

And today, new survey data suggests that offering any boosters may deter some unvaccinated from getting their first highly effective COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 71 percent of unvaccinated people said booster doses show the vaccines are not working as well as promised, according to the survey results published Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).

Splitting the unvaccinated further: of the unvaccinated who said they planned to "wait and see" before getting a shot, 69 percent said boosters show the vaccines are not working as well as promised. Of the unvaccinated who said they will "definitely not" get a shot, 82 percent said the same. By contrast, among people who are already vaccinated, 78 percent said the use of booster doses "shows that scientists are continuing to find ways to make vaccines more effective."

The results will likely be bitter for experts who continue to be torn about the use of booster doses at this time. On one hand, protection from COVID-19 vaccination looks to be waning for some, particularly older adults. In others, a booster dose may reduce the risk of infection and transmission amid the delta surge. But that elevated protection may not last long, perhaps only a few months. Meanwhile, for most people, the primary series of two doses is still offering high levels of protection against severe disease and death—the main purpose of vaccination.

Even CDC director Rochelle Walensky, who expanded booster recommendations over the advice of experts, notes the minimal benefits. "I want to be clear," she said in a White House press briefing last week, "we will not boost our way out of this pandemic. Infections among the unvaccinated continue to fuel this pandemic rise, resulting in a rising number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths where people are unvaccinated."

Additionally, many experts argue third vaccine doses used in the US would save more lives if they were used as first doses in low- and middle-income countries. Many lower-income countries have not been able to access vaccine supplies and protect even their frontline workers and most vulnerable... (MORE)

[Syne]

They've had trouble with their messaging form the very beginning. The notion of zero-COVID has always been myth. And due to that they've pretty consistently claimed vaccines granted immunity instead of only protection. If they had emphasized it as protection, boosters shots would be more expected. But they pushed it as the end all be all that wasn't the end of anything, including masking, social distancing, lockdowns, etc..

[Zinjanthropos]

The way I see it is that at the extreme end of the population there are those who would have survived, vaccine or no vaccine. Opposite would be true for the other pole, there are those who will die vaccine or not. In the middle are the vast majority and the vaccines will probably be just enough to save some from death and for those who wouldn't have died had they contacted the virus, they will have their immune system enhanced. Sure you may still get it and be sick but what the vaccine does is reduce its effectiveness, preventing the health systems from becoming overloaded, allowing for hospitals to run somewhat like under normal circumstances, without overwhelming staff.

The unvaccinated will eventually catch the virus and some will die and some not. The rest end up in the hospital unnecessarily. If you refuse the vaccine and contract the virus then have the courage of your convictions and stay home, see how that works out for ya.

[Syne]

Has nothing to do with the courage of your convictions. It's just a risk assessment, like ones we make every day, deciding to get into a car, eat fast food, etc.. Sometimes your risk assessment just isn't accurate. That doesn't mean car accident victims should avoid the hospital to "have the courage of their convictions." The chances of dying in car accident are about the same as dying from COVID, less than 1%.

Or how about telling the vaccinated to have the courage of their convictions? If the vaccine is supposed to protect you, why would you need a hospital?