Three Years After Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout, CDC Still Gets Messaging Wrong

WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 30: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen As U. S. Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths increase this month as a result of yet another wave of infections sweeping the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is telling people to get vaccinated.

However, in its main message, instead of stating the vaccine’s effectiveness at greatly reducing the risk of severe disease the CDC inaccurately asserts the vaccine’s ability to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Such problematic messaging may exacerbate the public’s decline in trust in the CDC. Nationwide again.

The weekly total is over 2,000 for the first time since the beginning of the year. In the past week, the average weekly death toll increased by 25%, while hospitalizations are up by nearly 18%. Weekly Covid-19 deaths in the U.

S. since the beginning of the pandemic. After a tally of more than 1.

2 million Covid-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, the last thing the U. S. wants to see is a winter spike.

As countermeasures, people who’ve tested positive, have symptoms or been exposed to someone with Covid-19 should consider the use of KN95 or N95 masks, proper ventilation in public indoor settings and avoidance of close contact with others. Furthermore, it’s advised to get vaccinated or receive updated boosters, especially those in at-risk categories such as the elderly and immune-compromised. But CDC’s messaging on vaccination leaves something to be desired.

This week, the agency : “The only thing we want you to spread this holiday season is love and cheer. Prevent the spread of #flu, #COVID, and #RSV by getting vaccinated. ” While vaccination is certainly recommended as a way to diminish the chance of serious illness, it’s not going to do much to curb the spread of Covid-19.

It’s inaccurate to suggest that vaccines are an effective tool to prevent transmission of the coronavirus. Messaging matters, especially when it emanates from a public health agency that’s been under fire for several years for . There’s plenty of evidence to support the use of vaccines to reduce disease severity and death.

This is indeed what the CDC ought to emphasize when it addresses the public about the need for vaccination and boosters. Since Covid-19 vaccines became widely available in the spring of 2021, there has been a sizable gap in the fatality rate between the unvaccinated and vaccinated. A estimated that through November 2022, Covid-19 vaccines prevented more than 18.

5 million U. S. hospitalizations and 3.

2 million deaths. By the end of 2022, data began to show that the majority of Covid-19 deaths were among the . But this doesn’t imply that vaccines and boosters are ineffective.

The number of deaths may now be higher in vaccinated individuals, but this is because there are far more vaccinated than unvaccinated individuals. It’s the rates of Covid-19 fatalities among the unvaccinated versus the vaccinated that are relevant. These rates demonstrate unequivocally the effectiveness of vaccines.

It’s clear, for example, from the below, which enumerates Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people stratified by vaccination status, that being vaccinated protects against death. U. S.

Covid-19 weekly death rate by vaccination status. The disparity in death rate between the unvaccinated and vaccinated did shrink in early 2023. The last posted data point in the graph is April 2023.

For the nation as a whole we don’t have more recent data. However, for a we do. There continues to be a differential in death rates and severity of illness.

From September 14 to October 11, 2023, unvaccinated individuals in the state of Washington were between 1. 3 and 2. 5 times more likely to die from Covid-19 compared to those who received at least one booster dose in addition to having completed the primary series of two vaccinations.

And from October 6 to November 2, 2023, unvaccinated individuals were between two and 4. 5 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than those who received at least one booster dose on top of the first two shots. It’s this kind of evidence that should be highlighted in CDC’s messaging on the importance of vaccines in the effort to prevent severe illness and death from Covid-19.

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