Commercial Street, Provincetown, Cape Cod Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesThe CDC updated its guidance on mask vaccinations after a COVID-19 epidemic in Provincetown.Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, said that this does not mean vaccines are ineffective.She said that there were very few deaths and hospitalizations among those who had been vaccinated.Check out more stories from Insider's business page.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its indoor-masking guidelines after an outbreak of COVID-19 among highly-vaccinated Cape Cod residents. This was just before the July Fourth weekend.Rochelle Walensky, CDC Director, said that the outbreak doesn't mean vaccines aren’t working. This was according to an interview with the BBC published Monday.She said that it proves vaccines work and prevent severe diseases, hospitalizations, and deaths, as previously demonstrated by clinical trials.Walensky stated that the lesson here was how the town performed in the face of high levels of vaccination and a lot of exposure.There were 4 hospitalizations for 346 people who had been vaccinated and no deaths.The CDC released a Friday study that showed 469 cases in people who visited Provincetown from July 3 to July 17. 74% of those cases, or 346 people, were fully vaccinated.The high incidence of infections in vaccinated residents was due to the low vaccination rate. However, the mild nature of the infections proves that vaccines do work.Because the outbreak was so severe, the CDC became interested in the situation. According to the town manager, more than 95% had been vaccinated by the beginning of July. This suggests that even fully vaccinated individuals can still transmit the Delta coronavirus variant.Walensky stated in a BBC interview that the outbreak should not affect public confidence in vaccines.According to the CDC study, most cases among the infected were mild among those who had been vaccinated. The study found that only four people were admitted to hospital and that no deaths occurred.Continue the storyThese findings are consistent with prior data that showed vaccines can prevent serious illness and hospitalizations. The CDC stated earlier this month that 97% people who were hospitalized for COVID-19 in the US had not been vaccinated.Walensky also pointed out that the population of Provincetown grew in July with approximately 60,000 people visiting Provincetown during the July Fourth weekend. She said that the number of people who were vaccinated was relatively low.Walensky stated to the BBC that "the most important message here was to get vaccinated."Provincetown, August 16, 2016. Aylin Woodward / Business InsiderWalensky states that the new mask guidance was created to protect unvaccinated people.Walensky answered a question about whether the mask guidance could undermine public confidence in vaccines. He said that it was updated to protect people who have not been vaccinated or those who aren’t eligible.In a Sunday interview, Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health made the same point.Collins stated to CNN's Jake Tapper that it was primarily about protecting those who are not vaccinated. That's where there are the most serious risk of illness. Your chance of becoming sick by getting vaccinated is reduced 25-fold if you get vaccinated now. Vaccines work very well.High viral loads can be carried by vaccinated people infected by the Delta variant.Walensky stated to the BBC that preliminary CDC data suggest that people vaccinated with the Delta variant of the virus can have high levels of infection, which is not the case with the Alpha variant.She said that vaccinated individuals can have as many virus-infected people as unvaccinated.Although vaccinations are proven to significantly reduce the risk for severe diseases, even the Delta variant, the increased viral load may increase the chance of people being able transmit the virus to others.It is still not clear, however, how contagious vaccinated people can become after contracting the Delta variant.Ben Wakana, who is part of the White House COVID-19 Response Team, tweeted last week that vaccined people don't transmit the virus at a similar rate to unvaccinated.Business Insider has the original article.
