A Michigan State University public health expert is calling for the retirement of the phrase "pandemic of the unvaccinated" after she contracted COVID at an event where the people who attended were vaccinated.
A 47 year old epidemiologist by the name of Debra Furr-Holden, who serves as the Dean of Public Health Integration at Michigan State University, recently got infected with COVID after attending a wedding in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where there were more than 100 people. She was not the only one who caught COVID at the event.
According to Big League Politics, the wedding event was attended by a number of health professionals. Because of her personal experience, Furr-Holden believes that health authorities and leaders in politics should stop using the term "pandemic of the unvaccinated." Right now, people who are vaccinated can still catch and spread the coronavirus.
"I'll give people a cautionary tale," Furr Holden remarked during a conversation with ABC 7 News. "If a group of medical professionals and public health professionals can't prevent spread at a social gathering, it's just the luck of the draw for everybody."
The epidemiologist argued, "We need to shift the narrative and stop calling this a pandemic of the unvaccinated. It doesn't honor the fact that we're seeing more and more breakthrough cases in the vaccinated."
Dr. Bradly Bundrant, in an op-ed for the Runnels County Register, agreed. Vaccinated individuals can get COVID and will spread the coronavirus if they are infected with it. Dr. Bundrant argued that despite being vaccinated against the disease, people who are infected "will shed just as much virus, but for a slightly shorter period of time." This means that other people can still get infected with the virus.
Moreover, vaccination does not provide immunity forever. Dr. Bundrant wrote that "the reason for diminished effectiveness is that the concentration of antibodies declines over time."
According to Günter Kampf's report published in The Lancet titled "COVID-19: stigmatising the unvaccinated is not justified," there is mounting evidence that "vaccinated individuals continue to have a relevant role in transmission." In fact, in Massachusetts, 346 out of 469 new COVID cases or 74% were traced back to individuals who were fully or partially vaccinated, 274 or 79% of which were symptomatic.
Moreover, data "[indicated] a high viral load even among people who were fully vaccinated." In the U.S., a total of 10,262 new COVID cases were reported by April 30 this year. 2,725 of these or about 26.6% were asymptomatic, while 995 or 9.7% were hospitalized, and 160 or 1.6% died. All of these people were fully vaccinated individuals.
Furr-Holden lamented that despite getting tested prior to the event, ensuring that attendees had vaccines and even boosters for some, they still caught COVID and brought it home to their families and even infected some of their family members. The epidemiologist herself admitted that she had infected her daughter and had to isolate from her three-month old granddaughter.
Even the bride and groom at the wedding tested positive for COVID and had to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
Furr-Holden encouraged people to be "more vigilant," saying, "We all have COVID fatigue. The virus does not."
