CDC Provides No Records to Prove High Vaccination Rates Reduce the Spread of COVID-19 Despite Arguing Otherwise
In early April 2021, former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky interviewed with MSNBC, arguing “our data from the CDC today suggests, you know, that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick, and that it’s not just in the clinical trials but it’s also in real-world data.” As of February 16, 2023, a CDC webpage continues to assert that “high vaccination coverage in a population reduces the spread of the virus,” in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, claims regarding COVID-19 vaccines and transmission rates have always been met with scrutiny from both researchers and journalists. When Walensky made her initial claims regarding transmission capability for vaccinated people, the CDC was quick to concede she was “speaking broadly” during the interview. The New York Times even ran a piece entitled “Can Vaccinated People Spread the Virus? We Don’t Know, Scientists Say,” featuring various scientists negating Walensky’s claim. While some admit vaccination may reduce transmission, the article concludes there is no silver bullet to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Further, the notion that COVID-19 vaccination substantially reduces transmission has been challenged by academics like Norman Fenton, author of the Substack “Where are the numbers?” There, Fenton debunks the popular empirical models used to evaluate vaccine effectiveness. This includes a recent peer-reviewed study that finds “the pre-existing seasonal nature of coronaviruses had more impact on reported covid ‘case’ and ‘death’ numbers than any of the government public health interventions,” coupled with evidence that statisticians often miscategorize vaccination status in research settings.
These flaws only became more problematic after reporter Zachary Stieber submitted a FOIA request for specific evidence to support the statement “high vaccination coverage in a population reduces the spread of the virus and helps prevent new variants from emerging,” only for the CDC to respond the “CDC does not conduct research into such fundamentals.”
While scientific consensus can certainly be relied upon to an extent, the CDC has repeatedly demanded citizens trust the agency to make critical health decisions despite lacking empirical data to support their claims.
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