I have written multiple rants on "Good Morning Liberty" co-hosts Nate Thurston and Chuck Thompson, more usually the former. On the topic of COVID-19, Thurston has refused to get vaccinated by matter of principle, suspicious of the State's role in pushing vaccines; he himself has caught COVID-19 in the past. Chuck has been vaccinated; I have not heard him explain his reasons (perhaps he has). I do think he got married in Italy during the pandemic and may have needed it for travel reasons. Chuck however doesn't take issue with Nate's more strident anti-vaxxer views.
I don't have transcripts of the episodes, but Nate has engaged in everything from outright ridicule of vaccine and masking guidelines or studies done in the lab vs. the "real world" as worthless to citing poorly described alleged studies purporting to show disparate infections among the vaccinated vs. the unvaccinated, including the false rumor that the currently dominant omicron variant is targeting the vaccinated.
Let me first point out that I'm pro-vaccine and have worn an N95 mask at airports, government facilities an an assisted living facility, but have been a harsh critic of government power grabs during the pandemic, largely driven by fears of asymptomatic carriers. In particular, I've been critical of Dem governors like Cuomo, Whitmer and Newsom, and Biden's unconstitutional OSHA vaccine mandate. I've seen clips of unmasked restaurant customers being manhandled for not following the rules of the Kabuki dance. Oh, the prevalent cloth masks can halt some virus-laden respiratory splatter but do little on bioaerosols.
More recently we've seen the international spectacle of 10-time Australian Open winner tennis player Novak Djokovic being blocked over non-compliance with Australian visa/vaccine rules. I do get the political protest over double standards for celebrities, resentment from fellow athletes who follow the rules. I don't get why a world-class athlete would gamble with his health during a pandemic; travel is a known risk factor. He has a wife and kids. In fact, he reportedly got infected recently but has subsequently tested clean; I don't know the specifics of his COVID, e.g., asymptomatic. Under some conditions, the rule of thumb is up to 3 months before vaccination. In the meanwhile, he has some natural immunity and is unlikely to transmit the virus. Tennis isn't a contact sport, and Djokovic wouldn't be able to compete with a respiratory illness. I hope that Australia shows some flexibility.
But let me repeat some key points against Nate's rubbish. First, not all vaccines are sterilizing. It is almost impossible to absolutely prevent infection in a pandemic, especially when you have emerging mutant variants. The vaccines in question were developed for an earlier variant; there is ongoing development for an omicron booster, and we still see protection against serious illness with full vaccination and especially with boosters. While omicron is far more contagious than Delta, and breakthrough cases have multiplied, most serious infections are in high risk groups like senior adults and/or other serious health issues/the immuno-compromised. Both natural and acquired immunity tends to diminish after a few months.
And second, not all state data are gathered consistently, especially on breakthrough (vaccinated) cases. But Time recently posted a piece on the pandemic still being one of the unvaccinated. If anything, the ratio of unvaccinated hospitalized has expanded over the vaccinated more recently (e.g., in NY). Nate completely ignores the data from the states (e.g., MN, VA, MA, and NY) of improved case, hospitalization, and death statistics, not to mention data provided from vaccine makers.
As for mask data, filtration is much better with higher quality surgical and especially N95 masks. I have worn N95 masks for months. It is harder to breathe with them, but they work well.
As for Nate's fixation on transmissibility in breakthrough cases, there are statistics showing lower rates in vaccinated households. Consider this excerpt:
Studies of viral dynamics further suggest that while viral loads in breakthrough infections may be as high in vaccinated individuals as they are in unvaccinated individuals, viral loads in those who are vaccinated decline more rapidly, and the virus that they shed is less likely to be culture-positive than virus shed by unvaccinated individuals.7,8 This suggests that people who are fully vaccinated are less likely to become infected and if infected, will be contagious for shorter periods than unvaccinated people. This is supported by transmission studies that confirm that vaccinated people are less likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to close contacts compared with unvaccinated people, including the Delta variant.9 In a study of 7771 household contacts of 4921 index cases in the Netherlands, the rate of transmission from fully vaccinated household members was 13% vs 22% from unvaccinated household members (estimated vaccine effectiveness against transmission, 63% [95% CI, 46%-75%]).10 Similarly, in an English study of 151 821 contacts of 99 567 index patients, the rate of transmission from people fully vaccinated with BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) was 23% vs 49% for transmission from unvaccinated people (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.35 [95% CI, 0.26-0.48] for transmission of Delta to unvaccinated contacts; aOR, 0.10 [95% CI, 0.08-0.13] for transmission of Delta to fully vaccinated contacts).11
There is also some evidence that shed virus from breakthrough cases may be in a more degraded status. We also need to point out there's more to our immune system than antibody counts.
Nate also ignores that the vast majority of breakthrough cases are asymptomatic or mild symptoms, so structurally the risks between groups are much different. This does not mean one should not be concerned about the highly infectious omicron; far too many fully vaccinated people are not getting boosters (unlike me). I urge readers to get fully vaccinated or boosted if they haven't been.
