Why mandated testing of the unvaccinated makes no sense
The science doesn't support it. Is it discriminatory? Putative? Biasing public perception?
For my first post, I’m copying over something I wrote on “another” social media platform, this time adding in another recent study that further bolsters these points.
Many workplaces / colleges that have mandated the covid jab have put in place extra requirements for people who did not get the jab (medical or religious exemptions). One of these extra requirements is regular COVID testing (weekly? twice weekly?) That doesn't make a lot of sense given the growing scientific literature on the actual efficacy of the jab.
1) There are studies that show the viral load in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals are similar, and that the rate of infection in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals is similar. It is important to note that these are population-based studies, not surveillance of people seeking testing. These are outbreak investigations. That means you don't have a selection bias.
This raises the question: if vaccinated individuals have the same capacity to spread infection as unvaccinated, why only monitor the unvaccinated?
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7031e2.htm
https://www.medrxiv.org/con.../10.1101/2021.07.31.21261387v4
https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/.../finalfinalcombinedve20210816...
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.28.21264262v2.full?fbclid=IwAR0UN5Wi4Z4UXWzQsJCOOOBmX3A_1vdGTSC5sZKAgz_DOPqjOFcWZ6Ykx8Y
2) This study only looks at fully vaccinated individuals, so there is no control group. But it still makes the point about high viral loads and potential for viral transmission from these individuals.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3897733
3) There are lots of scientific studies and media reports showing that the vaccine is waning in effectiveness. The data out of Israel is pretty dramatic actually - efficacy of the original 2 shot dose was down in the 40% range as of July!
So again, if the vaccine is waning in efficacy, why are only unvaccinated individuals considered a risk of transmission?
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2112981
https://www.nbcnews.com/.../israel-sees-drop-pfizer-covid...
https://www.cnbc.com/.../delta-variant-pfizer-covid...
https://www.medrxiv.org/.../10.1101/2021.07.29.21261317v1...
4) There are also studies that show that individuals that were previously naturally infected by SARS-CoV-2 (pre-vaccine) do not get an additional benefit from vaccination. In other words, there isn't an additional protective effect on top of their acquired immunity. This is interesting because most workplaces don't seem to care if people can demonstrate that they have antibodies.
https://www.medrxiv.org/con.../10.1101/2021.06.01.21258176v3
https://www.medrxiv.org/.../10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1...