# Covid vaccine effectiveness rate (including against variants)

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-vaccine-effectiveness-rate-including-against-variants/948133
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone
**Tags:** covid-quarantine
**Created:** [August 6, 2021, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-vaccine-effectiveness-rate-including-against-variants/948133 "2021-08-06T01:14:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 13

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### Author: ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2021, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-vaccine-effectiveness-rate-including-against-variants/948133/13 "2021-08-06T03:07:54Z")

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> [@asahi](#):
>
> Am I in the wrong here?

If you really want help, I’ll try. While I’ve stayed out of this particular argument, I understand completely where you’re coming from. With that said, the way you convey the message is very important.

> [@Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2021 Breaking News](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1999):
>
> And now surveillance data from the UK is starting to confirm that Israel was right and CDC was wrong. Vaccine efficacy? About 50-60%. There you have it, folks: **the vaccines are NOT 90% effective.**

If vaccine efficacy is 50%, then all I’m doing to myself by getting vaccinated is reducing my chances by half. That makes the vaccine seem pretty fucking weak, quite frankly. Sure, we both know there are other things going on besides those numbers and there is the responsibility to others that is also impacted, but that’s what a subset of people will see, because that’s what they’re looking for.

If, on the other hand, you focused on how to handle the Delta variant, i.e. through a harder push for vaccinations over all, increasing mask usage to earlier levels, and looking at potential boosters, you’d probably not get any arguments, certainly not from me. A more sober discussion about the different studies around efficacy of every vaccine/variant combination out there would probably fly as well, but only if it stays toned down a bit. You’d also be a lot less likely to fill the head of anti-vaxxers with more excuses about why they should ignore the CDC (which is all they hear, not which statements they should ignore).

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