Antibodies is also just one part of the immune response, memory T cells are just as important.
We know the vaccines are not sterilizing so you can still catch and spread it. They do reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and that seems to be about that.
They do a lot more than that. A lot of the symptoms (coughing, sneezing, etc.) increase infectivity. The vaccines reduce not only the likelihood you'll get symptoms at all but if you do they reduce both the longevity and severity.
Saying "well you're just less likely to go to the hospital" underplays their importance and gives unnecessary credence to the completely false notion that if you don't get vaccinated the only person you're potentially hurting is yourself.
There is a slight chance, but it is not different than an unvaccinated person having an asymptomatic case (which is also common). That being said, the possibility of infecting others is much less when you don't have symptoms.
> The risk of spreading the Delta infection soon after vaccination with that jab was 42%, but increased to 58% with time.
42% (and even 58%) is still a huge improvement since the article says that the likelihood that an unvaccinated person will spread is around 67%.
The R0 value for Delta is between 6 and 7. So while an unvaccinated person might pass it on to ~6.7 people you will pass it on to only 4.2 people in the beginning (37% reduction), then to 5.8 people (13% reduction).
This calculation also assumes that your chance of getting Covid is the same as an unvaccinated person, which is not correct.
What interpretation are you expecting people to make? Because there's a huge impact from vaccination.
The chances of having a breakthrough infection and passing it to someone else are quite a lot smaller than the chances of getting infected while being unvaccinated and passing it to someone else, just because breakthrough infections aren't that high (Even if they are higher than we'd like).
COVID-19 vaccines aren't sterilizing to any meaningful extent. They provide only limited and temporary protection against infection. The real benefit is in protection against severe symptoms.
> We know the vaccines are not sterilizing so you can still catch and spread it
Unfortunately US media and government messaging at the beginning of this year touted the vaccines effectiveness as we historically understood vaccines to be, which was relatively sterilizing and a preventative. When Delta started infecting the fully vaccinated, it underscored the skepticism around these vaccines.
Ironically, right now, I know more people in my social circle that have had breakthrough cases then people who had Covid prior to vaccine’s release.
We know the vaccines are not sterilizing so you can still catch and spread it. They do reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and that seems to be about that.