Think Of Your COVID-19 Vaccine Like A Very Good Raincoat, Says Dr. Leana Wen
NPR, July 27, 2021.
Dr. Leana Wen advises that you should think of your COVID-19 vaccine like a very good raincoat: If it's drizzling or you're in a rainstorm? You're well-protected. "But if you're going in and out of thunderstorms every single day and now there's a hurricane at some point you're going to get wet," she says.
That's one of the reasons why Wen, an emergency medical doctor and former health commissioner of Baltimore, believes the CDC ended masking requirements too abruptly and prematurely in May especially now that the highly transmissible delta variant is so prevalent in the U.S. She and other public health experts have urged the CDC to revisit their guidance which the agency is expected to do on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, we're in a situation now where the vaccinated are having to pay the price for the actions of the unvaccinated ... " she says. Though it's very, very rare for vaccinated people to get seriously ill with COVID-19, breakthrough infections are occurring, she says, "not because the vaccines aren't effective, but rather because of the high levels of unvaccinated and infected people who are surrounding us."
Wen serves as a medical analyst for CNN and a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. In her new memoir, Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health, she describes the remarkable path that led to her current career...
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/27/1020872236/coronavirus-vaccine-delta-covid-cdc-masks-leana-wen