> COVID vaccine prevented transmission of the virus
People aren't good at subtlety and nuance, and it's quite necessary:
- Did the COVID vaccine prevent transmission of the virus? No, clearly not, because I was double vaccinated and still caught the virus and inadvertently spread the virus.
- Did the COVID vaccine reduce the probability of transmission of the virus? Probably.
- Did the COVID vaccine reduce the severity of symptoms if you were infected? Also probably.
- Was there a non-zero risk of injury due to the COVID vaccine? Definitely. In the general population, did the risk of severe illness due to COVID outweigh the risk of vaccine injury? Very likely. For specific individuals who ended up debilitated for 12 months (like my close family member), undergoing a number of tests to try to find a cause other than vaccine injury, was it worth it? Hard to say.
Edit: someone replied about vaccine injury and was flagged. In this particular case the doctor was convinced that it was Addison’s Disease and the onset was within days of, I believe her third dose. It’s an autoimmune disorder that affects the adrenal glands and results in insufficient cortisol. Except… there was nothing wrong with her adrenal glands and it went away a year later.
Right, but the word "prevented" in this is way too subtle and nuanced:
> whether people believed that the COVID vaccine prevented transmission of the virus
Because the correct answer is "no, it didn't prevent transmission". It likely reduced transmission. Someone who'd been vaccinated twice and still caught the virus twice would very rightly say "no, this vaccine did not prevent me from being infected"
It's a disingenuous trick question though, specifically because of the nuance that most people won't think too much about. Did the vaccine "prevent transmission"? No, obviously not. Did it seriously curb the virus from ripping through seniors care homes and killing a bunch of people? Yes.
It's the kind of question that's phrased as a gotcha, not one that actually gets insight into population beliefs and behaviours beyond "oh look they fell for my trick"
I don't think it is a disingenous trick question, I think it is a good one because it exactly matches the misinformation being spread by some antiscientific liars who repeated it without any of that "nuance" you are talking about.
People aren't good at subtlety and nuance, and it's quite necessary:
- Did the COVID vaccine prevent transmission of the virus? No, clearly not, because I was double vaccinated and still caught the virus and inadvertently spread the virus.
- Did the COVID vaccine reduce the probability of transmission of the virus? Probably.
- Did the COVID vaccine reduce the severity of symptoms if you were infected? Also probably.
- Was there a non-zero risk of injury due to the COVID vaccine? Definitely. In the general population, did the risk of severe illness due to COVID outweigh the risk of vaccine injury? Very likely. For specific individuals who ended up debilitated for 12 months (like my close family member), undergoing a number of tests to try to find a cause other than vaccine injury, was it worth it? Hard to say.
Edit: someone replied about vaccine injury and was flagged. In this particular case the doctor was convinced that it was Addison’s Disease and the onset was within days of, I believe her third dose. It’s an autoimmune disorder that affects the adrenal glands and results in insufficient cortisol. Except… there was nothing wrong with her adrenal glands and it went away a year later.