I’m trying to understand your comment in the most positive way I can. However, you seem to be implying that either mechanical prevention measures (masks; distancing) or biomedical (vaccines) would be ineffective in treating and/or preventing the spread of COVID and its variants?
Is there a reason you think this? I used to work as a biostatisticians in the depth of epidemiology at UTMB Galveston. I think the basic advice of: “distance, mask, vaccine” is the most effective form of disease prevention known to science. It is very effective.
I have family and friends in Israel; also, about a dozen close colleagues. Israel has used a fairly sophisticated version of mask+distancing+vaccines since day one. This has flattened their infection curve, admirably.
Or … just to make sure we’re on the same page: do you think these prophylaxes permanently prevent infection? That’s a misunderstanding of what these prophylaxis are for.
There is a lot of discussion about these vaccines being leaky ( they don't stop transmission ). Therefore the whole premise on which the pandemic response is based is flawed. We are not on a path to elimination.
A vaccine, a mask, and social distancing reduce the probability of getting sick. In particular, a vaccine does not make you immune, like some sort of cartoon superhero. Instead, a vaccine dramatically improves the response time of your immune system to infection. If you’re surrounded by the infected, you’re gonna get sick.
If we had high rates of vaccination plus dedicated masking & distancing we could kill this virus. Just like we eradicated smallpox.
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted; for sure, one issue that I see skipped over is what we called “competence” — HIV is incompetent, whereas flu is competent: regardless of transmissivity (Re), you can ask how easily a virus infects. HIV rarely infects; flu infects quite well. It might be that COVID is supercompetent. That might explain the “breakthroughs” you’re reading about.
Is there a reason you think this? I used to work as a biostatisticians in the depth of epidemiology at UTMB Galveston. I think the basic advice of: “distance, mask, vaccine” is the most effective form of disease prevention known to science. It is very effective.