Alligatorob
SF VIP
I agree, claims like that don't help at all. Even if true its not a very useful number. I did some quick, and no doubt inaccurate, calculations to illustrate.They need to change that silly "99.99%" number.
Assuming the population of vaccinated people is only representative of the past 90 days, I think this is a reasonable WAG at an average. The 1,263 works out to about 14 deaths/day. It looks to me like the total Covid death rate has averaged around 600 deaths/day in that same timeframe, again a WAG (https://www.google.com/search?q=us+...UKEwjqo5680cTyAhVYkWoFHXXWAE4QyNoBKAF6BAgPEAc).
Assuming about half the population has been vaccinated this would work out to a death rate for the unvaccinated at about 20 times the vaccinated. Putting that into % it works out to a death rate about 95% lower for vaccinated. Still impressive, but a lot more believable than 99.999%.
No one should believe or quote my numbers they are at best a WAG (Wild Ass Guess). Only intended to make the point that what CNN reported was nearly useless. What needs to happen is for some good unbiased statisticians and epidemiologists to look at the numbers and give us some real useful analysis. That would let folks make more informed and intelligent decisions about the vaccine.
Of course 99.999% makes a better headline than 95%... And not doing the work necessary to be meaningful is a lot easier...