I saw a headline yesterday that the CDC was now reporting that vaccinated people can spread COVID just as easily as unvaccinated people. I then thought to myself, "this is not a good headline if you're trying to encourage people to get vaccinated."
What I guess this is saying is that vaccinated people who end up contracting COVID ("breakthrough" cases) have similar viral loads to people who are unvaccinated. So it makes sense that they would then be able to transmit the virus to others.
But the more important point remains that vaccinated people are less likely to spread the virus to others because they are less likely to actually get it in the first place.
Yes, the vaccines are not 100% effective. But supposedly the latest hospital data suggests that vaccines remain 87% effective at preventing hospitalization. This, of course, means that some vaccinated people will still get sick and that, yes, they might transmit it to others.
But for the vast majority of people that shouldn't be the case.
Update: My point is that clear and consistent messaging is important.