A CDC official was asked why the CDC lists COVID as a vaccine-preventable disease if vaccinated people can still both be infected and transmit COVID.
Public health officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admitted that people vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine can still get COVID and can transmit COVID at a Feb. 15 congressional hearing.
At the hearing by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) asked if the vaccine prevented people from transmitting the virus.
“There’s data that shows that earlier in the pandemic there was some reduction in transmission. The data on that are very challenging to pin down. It does not absolutely prevent transmission,” said Dr. Peter Marks, one of the hearing witnesses and the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA.
Mr. Cloud also asked if vaccinated individuals could get COVID.
“[The COVID-19 vaccines] do a very good job of preventing death and hospitalization. They may not prevent infection,” said Dr. Marks.
Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, also agreed after Mr. Cloud repeated the question a few times.
Mr. Cloud then asked Dr. Jernigan why the CDC lists COVID as a vaccine-preventable disease if vaccinated people can still both be infected and transmit COVID.
“Vaccine-preventable diseases are referring to things that benefit from the vaccine. What we know from COVID is that it does prevent you from getting severe disease, hospitalizations, and deaths,” said Dr. Jernigan.
By Marina Zhang
