6 fully vaccinated wedding guests contracted COVID and fared better with Pfizer

• Six fully vaccinated people who attended an outdoor wedding in Texas have contracted COVID-19.
• All of the breakthrough infections involved guests over the age of 50.
• There were two serious cases, including one death, in participants who had received the Indian vaccine Covaxin.

Six fully vaccinated people who attended an outdoor wedding in Texas in April fell with COVID-19 – a small outbreak that underscores how effective vaccines licensed in the United States are against even variants of the virus.

While the vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna may not eliminate all cases of COVID-19, especially now that the more infectious Delta variant dominates in the United States, they are very effective in preventing serious illness and deaths from COVID-19.

A preprint study from Baylor College of Medicine found that only people who received an Indian-made vaccine, Covaxin, fell seriously ill after attending the 92-person wedding near Houston in April.

The wedding took place in a “large outdoor tent” before the Delta variant circulated widely in the United States, according to the study. Everyone present had to be fully immunized.

The study authors suspect that the Delta variant was introduced during marriage by two people who traveled from India and tested negative before their flight, but developed symptoms in the United States.

Infections were mild in participants who had received vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna

Zhang Zheng / Getty Images

The six guests who contracted symptomatic COVID-19 after the wedding were over 50 years old. Two had received the vaccine from Pfizer, two had received the vaccine from Moderna and two had received an Indian-made vaccine called Covaxin. Their infections were confirmed by laboratory tests and viral sequencing for Delta.

Each exhibited common symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, cough, fatigue, and body aches. Those who had received the Moderna and Covaxin vaccines also lost their sense of smell.

But only the Covaxin recipients had serious infections. One of them was hospitalized and received Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment (the same one President Donald Trump received) 10 days after the wedding. The other died of complications from COVID-19.

US Licensed Vaccines Prevent Death and Serious Illness

Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said people vaccinated should always be tested for COVID-19 if they have symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat or cough, which may indicate a mild Delta infection in fully vaccinated people.

“What I would say is if you have these upper respiratory symptoms and have been vaccinated you should definitely take a COVID-19 test,” Walensky said during a COVID-19 briefing at the White House last week.

But she also pointed out that preliminary data from the last few months suggested that 99.5% of coronavirus deaths in the United States were in unvaccinated people.

“These deaths were preventable with simple and safe shooting,” she said.

During the briefing, Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, highlighted real data from Scotland and England suggesting that vaccines licensed in the US are very effective in preventing the most dire cases. of this variant.

“Please get vaccinated,” Fauci said. “This will protect you against the soaring Delta variant.”