There’s no question that new technologies and innovations are great. However, sometimes they don’t always work as planned when they are first introduced. Bugs are found, kinks need to be worked out, and fixes made to ensure that they are working to the best of their ability.
It’s why buying the latest and greatest car on the market isn’t always a good idea. Or why medical industries usually take years and years of research and studies before they introduce new medication to the public.
It’s also why many are skeptical of the technologies behind the novel COVID-19 vaccines.
Naturally, when any such vaccine comes out, there are always questions about how well it actually works, what side effects it may cause, if any, and what the long-term effects may be.
However, due to the newness of the COVID vaccines, nearly all of that is vastly unknown – or at least it was. While it may take several more years, if not decades, to learn about the long-term effects of any one version of the vaccine, we are quickly learning that it does have a few side effects.
For example, some who get the vaccine have reported flu-like symptoms, extreme headaches, severe skin irritations, and even blood clotting issues. In fact, a rising number of young adults and teens, most of them male, have been hospitalized, with some even dying mere days after getting the Moderna vaccine due to heart complications. And all so far had no previous heart issues.
Suffice it to say that, for some, those effects may not be worth it to them.
But now, we’re finding out that the vaccine doesn’t even really prevent you from getting the sometimes-deadly disease it’s supposed to protect you from.
In Massachusetts, for example, it was reported on June 16 by the Boston Herald that nearly 4,000 state residents have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks, even after being fully vaccinated.
The question for many then is, if it doesn’t prevent me from getting the virus, why should I get it?
And it’s an entirely logical question, especially for those who may not be at risk of getting the disease in the first place or who, if it is contracted, will likely have a very mild or asymptomatic case.
However, an infectious disease specialist at Boston University, Davidson Hamer, told The Herald that most of these supposedly rare breakthrough cases “are asymptomatic or they’re very mild and brief in duration.” He added that the “viral load is not very high” either.
Ok, but you’re still getting it. And it raises questions about who would be at risk of contracting the disease even while vaccinated and if such individuals could still transmit the infection to others.
Of course, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC says “breakthrough cases,” as they are referred to, are only to be expected and nothing to be worried about.
According to them, “Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19.”
Now, to be honest, getting a disease you’ve been vaccinated for isn’t completely abnormal. For example, people get the flu every year.
And data from nearly every vaccine-related study and research team all over the world can prove that to be true. Rare or breakthrough cases do occur with almost every vaccine ever created, confirming the CDC’s claim that the vaccine could prevent most people from contracting the disease.
However, 4,000 in one state, and a small one at that, might not exactly seem like a small number to most of us. I mean, when I hear 4,000, the word “rare” doesn’t really come to mind, even if it only makes up about one percent of the state’s vaccinated population.
And it certainly does little to build trust in an already questionable vaccine technology.
