It absolutely is "leaky". The COVID vaccines are "leaky" and not "perfect" by definition. Perfect vaccines prevent illness and prevent transmission. The COVID vaccines do not prevent illness nor do they prevent transmission. There is case after case of "breakthrough" infections where people who are fully vaccinated get sick and/or transmit the virus.
These less-than-perfect vaccines create a “leaky” barrier against the virus. Vaccinated individuals may get sick but have less severe symptoms, but the virus survives long enough to transmit to others, which allows it to survive and spread throughout a population.
“Our research demonstrates that the use of leaky vaccines can promote the evolution of nastier ‘hot’ viral strains that put unvaccinated individuals at greater risk,” Nair said.
Because these vaccines are leaky- the more we vaccinate- the more we put the unvaccinated at greater risk from catching a beefed up super-bug strain that will hit like a ton of bricks and make the previous strains look like mickey mouse.
For some reason this isn't being talked about. At all. It should be. It gives huge incentive for people to go get vaccinated. I was on the fence- but reading that scared the shit out of me. I'm going to get the vax.
No vaccine is perfect. Some people don't have immune systems that respond to vaccination. Vaccination is a numbers game. The goal is to reduce prevalence in a population such that those who don't have proper immune response to the vaccine don't encounter the virus.
We've seen natural immunity to COVID, people who have actually had the virus and tested positive, have reinfection. It's rare, as are breakthrough infections. But immunity, whether naturally-acquired or vaccine-induced, isn't perfect.
When we look at other diseases for which we have vaccines, we see similar things. Two doses of MMR are
only 97% effective against measles. That means that as many as 3% of people who are vaccinated but encounter measles in the wild would actually contract the disease.
The good COVID vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, are around 95% effective two weeks after the second dose at preventing
symptomatic disease. So potentially less effective at preventing asymptomatic disease that would show up positive via testing.
The big difference is that measles is mostly rare in the US, so the 3% who might be susceptible to it will likely NEVER encounter it. That's because almost everyone in the US has been vaccinated. That's not the case with COVID, because of the huge proportion of the population who is unvaccinated.
If you want to claim that the COVID vaccine is a "leaky" vaccine, you're gonna have to bring better evidence. Not saying you're wrong, but nothing you've said so far justifies it.
