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Comment by resource0x | Hacker News Reader

Quote from https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-79959... "Citing new information about the variant’s ability to spread among vaccinated people, the CDC also recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors at schools nationwide, regardless of vaccination status."

If someone is vaccinated AND still spreading the virus, is it any different from having an asymthomatic case of COVID?

According to the article, even an asymptomatic case carries a risk of brain damage.

As a corollary, the vaccine may save you from the disease, but not from the brain damage. Is this a correct assessment?

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Vaccinated people get in contact with the virus as much as the non vaccinated.

The virus invades the bodies and start multiplying in both populations.

The difference is that the vaccinated body is prepared to immediately attack the virus, something that takes weeks for the unvaccinated body to figure out.

So during the short interval when the vaccinated body hasn't yet wiped out the virus, the person is technically infected, will test positive, and can probably transmit some of the few viruses it has.

But that both vaccinated and unvaccinated can transmit the virus does NOT mean the danger levels are anywhere near similar!

This is probably why so many athletes get positive tests. If you get tested every day, you can get a positive test while a minor infection is defeated, even though you don't feel any symptoms.

> Vaccinated people get in contact with the virus as much as the non vaccinated.

Is this known to be true, or is it an assumption you're making in your analysis?

Just curious, because I would have expected people who refuse to be vaccinated to also be more likely to socialize in ways that expose them to the virus.

I should probably have said "as easily". I doubt anyone knows which group is more exposed, and it's not very important for the argument.

Personally, I expose myself to a lot more virus risks than before I got vaccinated, if you want an opposing argument.

> If someone is vaccinated AND still spreading the virus, is it any different from having an asymthomatic case of COVID?

It carries about an order of magnitude lower risk of hospitalization or death, so... yes. Yes, it is very different. We don't know about long term effects, those are, y'know, long term and hard to study in this kind of timeframe. Which is why the linked article is notable.

Also note that risk of transmission is about 10x lower (vs. delta, better vs. the older variants) for the vaccinated. So even if they're just as likely to see long term CNS issues from infection they're vastly less likely to be infected in the first place.

I don't think this article changes the vaccine calculus at all. Get your shot. It's your best protection against everything to do with covid.

> We don't know about long term effects, those are, y'know, long term and hard to study in this kind of timeframe. Which is why the linked article is notable.

This is priceless, as, for the same reasons, we do not know the long term effects of any of the vaccines either.

They are regarded as very safe compared to other approaches.

That's a great question. Another interesting one is whether these vaccines are preventing cases of Long Covid. I feel World leaders are conveniently being quiet about these questions, and focusing too much on the drop of death counts only. It's an attempt to rush and re-open the economy at any cost.

As far as I'm aware, the answers to these questions is currently not known.

One might reasonably extrapolate from a 10x (100x?) reduction in deaths to a 10x reduction in brain damage.

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