Man, I got to chill for a minute. Shit like this is getting me pissed. We getting to that point. A 5th shot might be even less effective agains the next one, but we ain't encouraged to do other mitigation. Stay safe out here.
From the capitulation write up:
Second, it is about the reduction in vaccine effectiveness that we are now encountering. Obviously, a breakdown of protection from transmission occurred with Omicron with “breakthroughs” in people with vaccination occurring quite commonly. That, and reinfections, were an unusual phenomenon (~1%) before Omicron. Now we are seeing people with 4 shots who are getting breakthrough infections, even at 1-2 weeks from their most recent shot, when there should be the maximal level of neutralizing antibodies induced. That’s not a good sign, relative to the 95% vaccine effectiveness we had against symptomatic infections against the ancestral, D614G, Alpha, and Delta (with a booster) strains.
But it’s worse than that. Because we have relied (and taken for granted) on vaccines to protect us from severe disease—to prevent hospitalizations and deaths. Prior to Omicron we could, with a booster, assume there was well over 90-95% vaccine effectiveness vs severe disease. It is clear, however, from multiple reports, including the UK Health Security Agency and Kaiser Permanente that this level of protection has declined to approximately 80%, particularly taking account the more rapid waning than previously seen. That represents a substantial drop-off: instead of a gap or “leak” of 5%, it is about 4-fold at 20%. And we don’t yet know how well vaccines are still holding up with the BA.2.12.2 and BA.4/BA.5 variants. Likely similar to BA.1 and BA.2 because we haven’t seen substantial increases in hospitalizations, but no data are yet available and it’s still early. Certainly those without vaccination, relying on infection-acquired immunity, and at advanced age, are at considerable risk for the Omicron subvariants because their prior exposure only led to narrow (BA.1) protection.
Bro, this country is finished. Half the mothafukkas here are rooting for the virus because they think it helps them politically.