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Elaine Chen 6 days ago
(Bloomberg) --
Federal health officials this month decided to limit how they monitor vaccinated people who have been infected with Covid-19, drawing concern from some scientists who say that may mean missing needed data showing why and how it happens.
At the end of April, more than 9,000 Americans were reported to be infected after being vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While that?s a tiny percentage of the 95 million people fully inoculated at the time, researchers still want to find out what specific mechanisms may be spurring the infections.
Rare breakthrough cases are expected since no vaccines are 100% effective. But tracking and sequencing the cases helps in figuring out who may be more at risk, whether new variants evade the vaccines and when protection from the shots begins to wane. At the same time, those infected -- some of whom are suffering widespread medical issues, even if they?re not hospitalized -- say they feel lost as a result of the lack of information.
?We shouldn?t be narrowing the focus, we should be broadening and develop a systematic plan,? said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla.
At the start of May, the CDC shifted from monitoring all reported breakthroughs to only those that result in hospitalization or death, Tom Clark, head of the vaccine evaluation unit for the CDC?s vaccine task force, said in an interview. The goal of the new strategy, according to the agency: maximize the quality of data collected on cases....
05/11/21
64 Days and Counting ? Why Won?t the CDC Answer Our Questions?
The Defender first reached out to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 8 with a list of questions about COVID vaccine injury reports in VAERS, including ongoing investigations into reported deaths. Our questions remain unanswered.
By Megan Redshaw
...[snip]...
CDC reduces Ct threshold for COVID testing
As of April 26, 2021 more than 9,245 COVID cases had been reported in the fully vaccinated, known as ?breakthrough cases.? The CDC recently recommended reducing the RT-PCR Ct value to 28 cycles when testing fully vaccinated people for COVID.
The lower threshold would result in a decrease in positive breakthrough cases, calling into question COVID vaccine efficacy data.
Dr. Fauci recommends a Ct value of 35. Globally, the accepted cut-off for Ct value for COVID ranges between 35 and 40, depending on instructions from manufacturers of testing equipment.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a patient is considered positive for COVID if the Ct value is below 35. In other words, if the virus is detectable after 35 cycles or earlier, then the patient is considered positive.
?If the benchmark were to be lowered to 24 it would mean that Ct values in the range 25-34 would not be considered positive. A benchmark of 35, therefore, means that more patients would be considered positive than we would get if the benchmark were 24.?
We asked the CDC to explain why it changed the recommendations for COVID testing in vaccinated patients, the impact this will have on reports of breakthrough COVID cases and why the agency does not apply one RT-PCR testing standard for testing, regardless of vaccination status...
? 05/11/21 Children?s Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Children?s Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Children?s Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children?s Health Defense. Your donation will help to support us in our efforts.
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