12 votes

How major media outlets screwed up the vaccine 'breakthrough' story

2 comments

  1. [2]
    teaearlgraycold
    Link
    I just finished listening to Monday's episode of NYT's The Daily - "A New Chapter of the Coronavirus". The fear mongering is egregious. Clearly the data shows that infections are on the rise....

    I just finished listening to Monday's episode of NYT's The Daily - "A New Chapter of the Coronavirus". The fear mongering is egregious. Clearly the data shows that infections are on the rise. Delta is more transmissible and a lot of businesses started opening up recently so that's no surprise. But they start with the premise of:

    • Potentially 1% of vaccinated individuals are getting breakthrough infections
    • Some vaccinated people have been measured to have virus quantities in their nose and throat in line with what an un-vaccinated person would have

    And then reach conclusions like:

    • "So the new understanding is a vaccinated person could potentially spread the virus just as much as an un-vaccinated person who becomes infected?" "Right."
    • "It feels like we lost something ... this week ... the idea that the vaccine meant that most people are not going to spread the virus"

    Which feels very premature. The implication is that if you're vaccinated you will just as readily pick up a viral load comparable to an un-vaccinated person once exposed to covid and can spread it around just as well. We always knew that the vaccines aren't perfect. Everyone has seen the numbers a hundred times - Pfizer 95%, Moderna 94%, etc. Those are not 100% so the fact that this is news at all is frustrating. If anything this will prevent un-vaccinated people from finally getting vaccinated since everything you hear from major media outlets is now about the slim margins where vaccines don't work as well.

    9 votes
    1. NomadicCoder
      Link Parent
      I had a very real and clear demonstration of the harm of this just yesterday when trying to convince my family to get vaccinated. My parents, brother, and other extended family are all anti-vax,...

      I had a very real and clear demonstration of the harm of this just yesterday when trying to convince my family to get vaccinated. My parents, brother, and other extended family are all anti-vax, and I've been trying to convince my mother to get the vaccine. Unfortunately I was put in the position of conceding that the media's reporting on anything science related is often over-hyped and incorrect as journalists are not scientists, which probably just confirms her perception that it's all "fake news", an idea that has been actively pushed by her political party of choice. It's been a very narrow tight-rope that I've been navigating since it's so easy for nuance to be misinterpreted as evidence for their conspiracies. Placebo doses used in clinical trials is evidence that there are fake vaccines. Science journalism is over-hyped and often incorrect is evidence that the media is lying to them. etc...

      Of course, I'm sure that she missed the part where I said that whenever I see such a story that interests me I try to go find the original source and read THAT, either ignoring that nuance or dismissing it as "too hard". Sadly I'm dismissed as the oddball in the family, often with a sarcastic "we're just not as smart as you", which I absolutely hate as it's intended as an anti-intellectual insult -- they take pride in ignorance.

      8 votes