What Really Happened With that Weird Yankees COVID Outbreak
Last week, in very short order, eight members of the New York Yankees, all of whom were apparently “fully” vaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19, confusing and alarming many Americans — not to mention Yankee fans — who had assumed that vaccination would close the book on the pandemic, at least for the vaccinated. Michael Mina, however, was not confused or alarmed. A Harvard epidemiologist who has spent the pandemic advocating for the widespread use of home-pregnancy-style rapid antigen tests, Mina has become, over the past year, one of the most clear-eyed critics of the public-health establishment and the COVID messaging that has emerged from it.
It seems like you don’t think these are “breakthrough” infections and also that you’re not surprised to see them. The Yankees are testing themselves frequently. When that happens, especially if you’re doing PCR tests, you’re going to find exposures and infections.
Even in people who’ve been vaccinated? Yes. I’ve always said that it is very unlikely that these vaccines will create fully sterilizing immunity. Sterilizing immunity is the kind of immunity where, if you get exposed and the virus lands in your respiratory tract, it will be neutralized (or killed) immediately. It will not have a chance to replicate. On the other hand, you can have very highly protective vaccines that are not fully sterilizing — vaccines that prevent you from illness, especially severe illness, but may still allow the virus to grow.
