Quote:
Originally Posted by LiverpoolWalrus
This is puzzling. Is there any reason to believe that nasal viral load in the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated should be different regardless of Covid variant - whether it's the original, alpha, South African, etc.?
The nostrils and throat are the point of entry before the vaccine works its magic. But the vaccine shouldn't have any effect on the initial exposure load, or does it? I don't believe the vaccines have the ability to kill the virus on initial contact, but maybe I'm wrong.
That said, let's ignore the fact that the Delta variant is much more contagious for a moment. If the more subtle variants can be transmitted by droplets in the UNvaccinated's respiratory system, why shouldn't droplets in the vaccinated be just as prone to transmission, contrary to what the CDC and WHO has said?
And if they are indeed equally transmissible, that would explain why a much more contagious variant (Delta) is wreaking such havoc.
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Think of it this way----the original is the father and the variants are his children, lets say all brothers. They share a lot of DNA, but one may be a great poet, another have a great singing voice, another a great golfer.
Likewise, some may result in higher viral loads, some may get killed earlier in the attempted infection process, some may get fatally damaged with early contact and rendered incapable of infecting others. We just don't know which is which at this point.
So the droplets from a vaccinated individual
might be less infectious. But also remember, the only way this nasal carriage is an issue in the vaccinated is in a breakthrough case, which is a small percentage. The rest of the vaccinated are not carrying the virus (we think for now). And also, even for the small percentage of the vaccinated that can spread the virus, they have to find a susceptible host (generally an unvaccinated person). And that is why the CDC guidance to have vaccinated individuals "mask up" is , well, questionable. (I was going to say a joke, but there are many who have lost a loved one and I wouldn't want to offend them)