In surprising twist, mainstream media changes tone in reporting breakthrough cases, no fear-mongering, just plain facts

The following is an article originally published by Agence-France-Presse and republished by the Manila Bulletin on May 26, 2021.

The article covers a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documenting the breakthrough cases (or SARS-CoV-2 test-positive) among fully vaccinated people in the US.

According to the report, a total of 10,262 fully vaccinated tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 from January 1 to April 30, 2021. [This number has doubled from our initial coverage of breakthrough cases, see CDC: 5,800 fully vaccinated Americans have contracted COVID-19, 74 dead]. The report adds that 2,725 (27%) of breakthrough cases were asymptomatic, 706 (7%) were hospitalized due to COVID and 132 (1%) died from reasons related to COVID. This puts the rate of breakthrough infections was at roughly 0.01%, hospitalizations at 0.0007% and deaths at 0.0001%.

The CDC noted that the actual number of vaccine breakthrough cases will substantially be higher as many will no longer be tested since they are asymptomatic to will mild infections. The report adds that by May 1, 2021, the CDC will no longer monitor the number of infections, but will instead focus on severe COVID cases leading to hospitalization or death [we have reported this in the article CDC changes reporting protocol for breakthrough cases].

Editor’s Note: Take note of the languaging used in the article attached below. Instead of saying that the hospitalizations and deaths were due to COVID the way they have been doing in the past year, the article instead says, “reasons related to COVID”, thereby opening the possibility that complications for COVID cases could be due to other reasons (such as other illnesses).

Moreover, mainstream media is finally using percentages, instead of whole numbers. For example, instead of saying 10,000 cases, they would now add, 0.01 percent. Why didn’t they do the same for COVID cases prior to vaccination? Before, mainstream media would say, “780 million people in the world have been infected by COVID, and deaths are now at 1,061,539”. [This data on cases and deaths is as of October 17, 2020, as featured in the article WHO says 10% of the world infected with SARS-CoV-2, puts IFR at 0.14%].

If they used the same sober languaging they are using now for breakthrough cases, then people would know that at the height of the “pandemic” in October 2020, the infection fatality rate for SARS-CoV-2 is at 0.14% – just a shy higher than the seasonal flu.

And if mainstream media picked up non-fear-based stories from the CDC, then people, particularly the young, would have known that their chance of surviving the COVID is very high, and that vaccination does nothing to improve it [see CDC updates planning scenarios, shows IFR lower than flu].

In the same way that mainstream media has changed tone in reporting breakthrough cases, the CDC is also changing its focus in monitoring. Instead of counting the positive tests, they are now focusing on severe cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Why didn’t they do the same for COVID, when they know that this is “of greater clinical importance”?

The duplicity of CDC and mainstream media is truly astonishing.