CDC states that vaccines no longer 'prevent transmission'

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that vaccines no longer "prevent transmission." In response to this, the White House was asked why they continue to refer to COVID-19 as a "pandemic of the unvaccinated."

"Our vaccines are working exceptionally well," Walensky said, "They continue to work well for Delta with regard to severe illness and death they prevent it. But what they can't do anymore is prevent transmission. So if you're going home to somebody who has not been vaccinated, someone who can't get vaccinated, someone who might be immuno-suppressed or a little bit frail, somebody who had comorbidities that put them at high risk, I would suggest you wear a mask in public indoor settings."

"I understand that the science says that the vaccines prevent death. But I'm triple vaxxed, still got COVID. You're tripled vaxxed, still got COVID. Why is the President still referring to this as a pandemic of the unvaccinated?" Fox News' Peter Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

"Well Peter, I think there's a significant difference, and you just experienced this, not to expose your public health experience, but I can speak to mine as well. I am triple vaxxed and I had minor symptoms. There is a huge difference between that and being unvaccinated," Psaki said.

"You are 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you're unvaccinated, 20 times more likely to die. And those are significant serious statistics. So yes, the impact for those who are unvaccinated are far more dire than for those who are unvaccinated," Psaki continued.

"Will the president update his language at some time to be more reflective of the fact that people who are triple vaccinated are catching and spreading COVID?" Doocy followed up.

"I think the president has said, as have we a number of times, that there will be breakthrough cases, there will be people who get COVID here, at different media organizations, at companies around the world, around the country, who have been vaccinated. But there is a significant difference between being hospitalized, or dying, and being vaccinated with more mild symptoms," Psaki concluded.

In July, President Joe Biden said: "The various shots that people are getting now cover that. You're okay. You're not gonna get COVID if you have these vaccinations." Biden was roundly slammed for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. He has continued to maintain that the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the "unvaccinated."

In December 2021, the CDC reported that "COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing infection, serious illness, and death. Most people who get COVID-19 are unvaccinated. However, since vaccines are not 100% effective at preventing infection, some people who are fully vaccinated will still get COVID-19. An infection of a fully vaccinated person is referred to as a 'vaccine breakthrough infection.'"

Walensky said that of those who have died in the US from COVID-19, at least 75 percent of them had at least four existing comborbidities.