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by jasonlaramburu 1739 days ago
> I was arguing that given Iceland, at almost full vaccination, is having its biggest COVID wave yet

By ignoring the denominator you misinterpret your own data. Iceland’s ‘biggest wave yet’ had >2x fewer cases and 4x fewer hospitalizations than the US Delta Wave when adjusted for population. Fewer cases means fewer chances to get infected.

1 comments

Can you help me understand why you choose to compare USA vs Iceland (which is fraught with confounding factors)

when Iceland (early) vs Iceland (now) seems like a perfectly reasonable and better comparison?

>Can you help me understand why you choose to compare USA vs Iceland (which is fraught with confounding factors)

I didn’t, the parent brought up Iceland. What are the confounding factors?

>Iceland(early) vs Iceland (now)

Ok, at its peak Iceland had 2x the number of new daily cases during its delta wave as its prior wave owing to the increased transmissibility of Delta. Despite this, hospitalizations during their delta wave were 1/3 of the prior wave. Unvaccinated Icelanders were also 2x more likely to be infected during their delta wave. It is undeniable that vaccination reduces hospitalization and infection rate.

>>It is undeniable that vaccination reduces hospitalization and infection rate.

This is completely irrelevant to my argument, yet you continue to repeat this point in an exercise of bad faith sophistry.

My argument is that vaccination does not provide herd immunity, and that thus the virus will continue to propagate until every one has been exposed to COVID, irrespective of the vaccination rate.

The point I'm making is that the argument that being vaccinated protects others is unsubstantiated. If anything, not being vaccinated leads to infection happening sooner, which leads to immunity much stronger than that conferred by vaccination.

Your argument is weak. The only evidence you have provided that vaccination cannot lead to herd immunity is a quote tweet about Iceland which has been discredited. US experts argue vaccination can confer herd immunity. If you disagree present data that supports your case.