However, those trials didn’t test the vaccines’ ability to prevent a coronavirus infection — the first step on the road to COVID-19. Hospital employees make good study subjects because they were among the very first people to get access to COVID-19 vaccines. Unlike in a clinical trial, the hospital workers in these two studies decided for themselves whether to get the COVID-19 vaccine or not. Still, until better data are available, studies like these can provide some insight into whether COVID-19 vaccines prevent infections as well as disease. In other words, the study results suggest that COVID-19 vaccines have the potential to greatly reduce the threat posed by silent spreaders.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 06, 2021 15:18 UTC