A reader who will remain anonymous at her request accused us of sensationalizing last week’s vaccine news. She wrote:

“I would like to take issue with your Chronicle headline for August 5, ‘Covid Vaccines Failing.’ Sensational coverage of the pandemic only adds to the reticence and vaccine hesitancy that is prevalent.

“The vaccines are designed to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death. They are doing what they are designed to do. Vaccines are designed to prevent disease with a high level of effectiveness. You fail to cite statistics indicating the majority of people hospitalized are unvaccinated.

“Yes, vaccinated people may test positive, but there is no way to tell if there is enough viral load in a nasal swab for a vaccinated person to indicate whether that person may transmit the virus to others. Just because a person has a mild infection does not mean that the vaccine has failed.

“Virologists who study viruses and their spread indicate that antibodies are high after vaccination with any of the available vaccines. These antibodies wane over time and our T-cells and B-cells provide the memory for our bodies to fight off the virus should an infection occur.

“This occurs with any vaccine.

“There is no doubt in my mind that vaccines are the way to stop this pandemic and I think everyone should be doing their part to give correct information.

Think about people that only read the headlines of your paper without reading the entire article. Those people are misled.

An unidentified reader

Editor’s note: We appreciate all readers who write. Our article was based on the most accurate information available including what Israeli medical experts found.

Some so-called experts have misled us.

Pfizer has claimed 97% effectiveness.

It appears it may be only 39% effective.

That means people who have been vaccinated with Pfizer’s product may be in the 61% who may yet be vulnerable to covid.

We say this as other readers may think we are only sensationalizing the news.

Our intent is to caution readers that they may still be vulnerable to some strains.

This is similar to immunology’s limits today. We don’t know all we need to know.

We get influenza shots but some of us still catch some other strain of the flu.