“Vaccines don’t reduce transmission.”
Even with the arrival of the Delta variant and the waning loss of antibodies over time, the original shots of the vaccine continued to offer noticeable protection against infection as well as serious illness throughout much of this year. And without infection, there’s clearly no chance of transmission. Secondly, evidence has shown that people with breakthrough cases from Delta are still less contagious than the typical unvaccinated and infected person. This may be because they carry relatively high levels of the virus for a shorter amount of time or because they’re less likely to have symptoms like coughing and sneezing.
Unfortunately, the rapid emergence of the Omicron variant since Thanksgiving has changed things more recently. Most vaccines seem to provide much less protection against infection from Omicron in general, though they do still provide a strong barrier from serious illness. However, booster doses, particularly from the mRNA vaccines, seem to restore a substantial level of effectiveness against infection even from Omicron, so they’re worthwhile to take if you’re eligible.
