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发帖数: 1 | 1 On May 1 the CDC halted its effort to monitor postvaccination “breakthrough
infections” that do not results in hospitalization or death. The agency’s
website explained that the shift “will help maximize the quality of the
data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance.”
The new policy has drawn criticism from some public health experts, who
worry the CDC may miss important signals embedded within the infections
among asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic people who have been fully
vaccinated.
Breakthrough infections are defined by the CDC as those that occur 14 or
more days after a person has completed vaccination, which means either both
doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, or a single dose of the
Johnson & Johnson vaccine. These cases are rare. As of April 26, the CDC had
documented just 9,245 among 95 million vaccinated Americans, although the
agency acknowledged that the actual number is probably higher and simply
hasn’t been documented through testing.
“By the CDC not doing this level of monitoring, it’s very reminiscent to
me about how I felt in the Trump era: ‘You’re each on your own’,” said
Kavita Patel, a primary care physician and nonresident fellow at the
Brookings Institution. “What is the burden of collecting the information?”
If there is an argument that the effort outweighs the benefit, Patel said,
“I haven’t heard it yet.”
Patel said she saw a breakthrough case this week, a woman with persistent
itchy eyes, a sore throat and a bit of a cough who, she initially believed,
was suffering from seasonal allergies. But a test confirmed the patient had
COVID-19 despite inoculation with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
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people at home as advocates ask what took so long
Patel said she recommended that the woman isolate herself and rest, but will
not recommend hospitalization unless her symptoms worsen.
Patel cites many reasons to monitor all breakthrough cases. At the most
basic public health level, monitoring of all data for a disease can be
critical. COVID-19 should be treated the same way, she said, to provide real
-world evidence of how effective vaccines are. Continuing to show the public
the rarity of breakthrough cases will buttress faith in the vaccines, she
said.
When school begins, Patel added, unvaccinated children will be routinely
mingling with vaccinated adults. Monitoring the impact of breakthrough cases
among school staff also will be important, she said.
When asked at a media briefing Tuesday about the reasons for the data-
monitoring change, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the “vaccines were
studied to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death, and as we look
at these breakthrough infections, those are the ones we are most concerned
about.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky
testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky
testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.
Greg Nash / The Hill via Pool
Walensky also cited a technical issue: People with asymptomatic breakthrough
infections often do not have enough virus in their bodies to permit genetic
sequencing.
Many states, including Virginia and Maryland, as well as the District of
Columbia, are continuing to gather this information. Vaccine producers also
are collecting it as their clinical trials continue.
Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in San
Diego, agreed with Walensky that asymptomatic breakthrough cases are not as
important to follow. Nonetheless, he argued, the CDC should monitor those
people, along with hospitalized and fatal cases, to determine whether and
how virus variants might evade vaccine protection, help discover new
variants and track how well certain vulnerable groups, such as the
immunocompromised, are shielded by vaccines.
If there is a spreading event caused by an unvaccinated person spending a
prolonged time indoors with vaccinated people, it will be important to
investigate that as well, Topol said, even if no one is hospitalized or
killed. Antibody levels may also wane over time, he noted.
Throughout the pandemic, one of the simplest metrics for tracking this
health emergency has been the infection rate. How many people got infected
today? Is that number going up or down or staying flat? Where are infections
rising, and where are they falling? The infection numbers have always been
leading indicators for what is to come in terms of hospitalizations and
deaths. Death rates typically lag infection rates by at least three weeks
and sometimes longer.
But it may be time to pay less attention to infections, and focus instead on
people who become sick enough to be hospitalized or who succumb to COVID-19
, Fauci told The Post.
“The breakthrough infection number is not particularly relevant as long as
they don’t spread the infection to anybody else,” he said. “If you are
vaccinated and you do get a breakthrough infection, it is very likely that
you will be without symptoms, and it is unlikely that you will transfer it
to anybody else.”
He added, “The only number that you will absolutely be able to follow is
the number of hospitalizations. … That might actually turn out to be the
most reliable, followable parameter.” | l******t
发帖数: 55733 | 2 cdc的遮羞布到底有多少层，撕了一片还有一片撕了一片还有一片， | w**********g
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