I am a Board Certified Internist who has been taking care of patients with COVID-19 and trying to prevent people from having severe or life threatening COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The headlines regarding Colin Powell's passing are misleading. He was in the middle of treatment for multiple myeloma. He was immunocompromised and even though he was vaccinated for COVID-19; he was unfortunately still at risk for severe infection. This does not indicated the vaccines are not working. Unfortunately if your immune system is compromised even if you are vaccinated you can be overwhelmed by a viral respiratory pathogen like SARS-COV2. A more honest headlines would have been complications due to the treatment o Multiple Myeloma and COVID-19 infection. This type of headline does not get the same level of clicks or reactions on Facebook.
Bottom line the 3 vaccines we have for COVID-19 that are available in the USA are highly effective, life saving and definitely work. Get vaccinated!!