These days, media are fine acknowledging that the COVID vaccine doesn’t prevent illness or transmission. But it wasn’t always that way.
Grabien’s Tom Elliott still remembers the Before Times, back when the Biden administration was pitching the COVID vaccine as the only way to for sure shut down the virus, and the media were only too happy to help. To that end, Elliott’s put together a delightful thread featuring ostensibly respectable media outlets promoting journalists and “experts” who wound up getting it very, very wrong:
Thread: When Covid vaccines were first being rolled out, here’s what the media told us.
1) CNN's @JReinerMD: “Vaccination not only prevents you from acquiring severe illness, but we know with certainty that it largely prevents transmission.” [March 3, 2021] pic.twitter.com/spgNKuERGi
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
On CNN, Dr. Carlos Del Rio (@CarlosdelRio7): “My gut feeling is the vaccines prevent transmission”; "having a vaccine that prevents transmission is really important” [March 13, 2021] pic.twitter.com/lRo3iUJrxo
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
MSNBC’s Dr. @CelineGrounder: Covid vaccines "protect even people who are not vaccinated yet because it prevents transmission.” [Feb. 3, 2021] pic.twitter.com/urJJkFr5wo
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
MSNBC’s @RichardEngel: The Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine “prevents people from getting Covid” [Feb. 3, 2021] pic.twitter.com/076dl9Z3K9
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
CNN’s @scottmclean: “The vaccine not only prevents people from getting sick, it also prevents transmission of the virus from person to person.” [Feb. 3, 2021] pic.twitter.com/oXjUOuxUZ6
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
On CNN, @Surgeon_General says "the vaccines we have work against the variants circulating in the United States" [May 20, 2021] pic.twitter.com/Bavb1ZG13O
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
MSNBC’s @AlexWitt on the CDC adjusting its mask guidance: “The decision was based on studies showing it is rare for vaccinated people to both catch and transmit the virus and that the vaccines work against the variants.” [May 15, 2021] pic.twitter.com/EsQCpmHU2f
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
CNN’s @nickwattcnn: "The vaccines do work against the variants that we know are out there” [January 27, 2021] pic.twitter.com/PCr4pgmDlW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
MSNBC’s @RichardEngel: “Hopefully we are coming out of [the pandemic] because the vaccines do work against the variants” [Feb. 21, 2021] pic.twitter.com/ckd9z2BQOb
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
.@CDCDirector Walensky: “We are accumulating data that our authorized vaccines are effective against the variants that are circulating in this country.” [May 13, 2021] pic.twitter.com/tuZhFaXndh
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 11, 2022
Is it any wonder that so many of the people who were told that the vaccine prevented transmission and illness feel like they were misled?
As we learn more, science can change. We have no problem acknowledging that. What we do have a problem with is all the journalists and purported People of Science who insisted, without sufficient data to back up their claims, that the COVID vaccine would stop the virus once and for all. And the fact that so many of them are pretending now that they’ve always known this would happen is just icing on the crap-filled cake.
The COVID vaccines are invaluable, and they’ve worked effectively to cut down on the likelihood of severe illness or death from COVID. It would’ve been nice if that had been the messaging all along.
