This gaslighting is silly. Did public health officials not disclose during the initial rollout that the vaccines would wane over time because they were telling yet another noble lie, or because they simply didn't know because their effects had not yet been observed in people for that length of time?
I mean I'm not quite sure what you're getting at discussions about the possible need for covid boosters were happening before I was able to get my first dose. (all of these are from January or February):
- https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/do-covid-19-variants-mean-...
- https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/14/moderna-looks-to-test-covid-...
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/booster-shots-aga...
- https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta...
> because they simply didn't know because their effects had not yet been observed in people for that length of time?
You're doing a subtle rhetorical badness here. It's worth clarifying that there are two distinct things that we care about with a vaccine: efficacy and safety. Due to the vaccine mechanisms, we had and continue to have fairly high confidence that they don't have negative side effects. They're safe. So when you say "their effects", you could mean "both their efficacy and safety" or just "their efficacy". But saying
> Did public health officials not disclose during the initial rollout that the vaccines would wane over time...because they simply didn't know [they would get weaker over time]"
is far less ominous, and honestly I don't see a reason to worry about that. Especially given that they were straightforward that there might be decreases in efficacy, but that none had been seen so far. I'd appreciate it if you were precise with your complaint, because I'm having a difficult time telling if you actually have one, or if you're being vaguely contrarian.
No more than the flu vaccine for any given year (which also wanes over time and requires boosters).
> Why we are continuing to boost with these shots targeting the original wild-type spike protein is beyond me.
They continue to have 70-95% efficacy in reducing severe (hospitalization/death) covid, which is the priority, and importantly, they can do that now without additional approvals. But both Pfizer and Moderna have delta specific boosters in clinical trials, which reduce transmission more effectively.