On April 6 2021, the Facebook page „დედოფალი“ (Queen) and the head of the organization “ერი და სახელმწიფო“ (Nation and State), Zviad Tomaradze shared posts about Salome Zurabishvili’s self-isolation. In the posts of both “დედოფალი“ (Queen) and Tomaradze it is highlighted, that the president is already vaccinated against the coronavirus and it is unclear, why did she self-isolate. The page “დედოფალი“ (Queen) writes, that Salome Zurabishvili’s self-isolation confirms once again, that the vaccine does not change anything and the restrictions will stay intact despite the vaccination.
The posts shared about president Zurabishvili’s self-isolation and vaccination are manipulative. The president did, in fact, get the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but as studies show, the vaccine displays its full efficacy after two doses, therefore it is, rarely, but possible for the patient to be infected during the in-between period. Moreover, Salome Zurabishvili later announced, that she was not diagnosed with the virus.
Salome Zurabishvili started self-isolating on April 6, after prime-minister Irakli Gharibashvili tested positive for the coronavirus. The president of Georgia came in contact with Irakli Gharibashvili on April 3, 2021 during the funeral of Folklorist Anzor Erkomaishvili. According to the information shared by president’s administration, Zurabishvili’s self-isolation was in order to avoid risks.
Along with self-isolating, the president took a PCR test. On April 7, at 13:34 Salome Zurabishvili shared a Facebook post, where she wrote, that the test was negative and she did not have the virus. Zurabishvili got a vaccine publicly on March 18, 2021, but the president has not received the second dose of the vaccine yet.
Is it possible to get infected by the coronavirus after vaccination?
Preliminary results of the third phase of AstraZeneca’s vaccine were published in a peer-reviewed journal “The Lancet” on December 8, 2020, according to which, the average efficacy of two doses of the vaccine is 62%. In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, “efficacy” means how much does the vaccine reduce the possible outcome, i.e. COVID-19 infection. An efficacy of 62% does not exclude a possibility of getting infected with the virus after vaccination, but claiming the vaccination’s ineffectiveness is manipulative. In reality, the vaccine reduces worsening of a patient’s health and fatal outcomes in case of infection. Moreover, two doses are necessary for the vaccine efficacy to become visible.
It should be noted, that the efficacy of the vaccine created by the collaboration of Oxford and a Swedish company may be much higher than it was shown in clinical studies. In February 2021, the analysis of vaccination data in different countries showed, that the efficacy of AstraZeneca’s vaccine after the first dose was 72%, while the second dose increased the number to 82%. On March 25, 2021, AstraZeneca published preliminary results of several clinical studies conducted in three countries (USA, Chile, Peru), according to which, the efficacy of two doses of the vaccine is 76%. After vaccinating 33 449 adult volunteers, only 141 volunteers tested positive, but none of them developed severe symptoms of the disease. After the vaccination, none of the infected patients were hospitalized due to worsening health conditions and there were no deceased as well, considering, that 60% of the participants were in high risk groups for COVID-19 with different characteristics (prior medical history, diabetes, obesity and so on).
Despite the fact, that the vaccines gravely restrict risks of developing severe symptoms of the virus, scientists are still researching how effective they are in limiting virus transmission. Different studies show, that COVID-19 vaccines have positive results in this regard as well. For example, according to data of the British vaccination program, AstraZeneca reduces the cases of asymptotic infections by 49%. Despite that, the vaccines do not fully restrict virus infection and transmission, therefore keeping safety measures is recommended even after the vaccination.
Manipulations about vaccination and risks of virus infection were also spread in the past. Read more in an article prepared by “Myth Detector”:
Manipulative report alleging that vaccine caused increase in Covid-19 cases in England and Israel
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