An emergency room doctor tested positive for coronavirus 9 days after being vaccinated. This is not a sign that the vaccine did not work.

• Josh Mugele, an emergency doctor in Georgia, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday.

• Mugele received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech nine days earlier.

• Mugele’s COVID-19 infection is not a sign the shot didn’t work.

• The vaccine requires two injections to be fully effective. It can also take up to a few weeks for those vaccinated to develop immunity, so it is important to continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing after receiving the vaccines.

• “It was just stupid luck,” Mugele said. “I was exposed a few days after receiving the vaccine, but it is still the best tool we have to fight the virus.”

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Josh Mugele worked the night shift at Christmas. Although he has cared for coronavirus patients since the start of the pandemic, his Georgia hospital has been overwhelmed like never before. There was a little comfort, however: Mugele had received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech on December 20.

“I’ve had three consecutive shifts until the vaccine date,” Mugele, an emergency room doctor at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Ga., Told Business Insider. “I was just very nervous, I was going to be exposed before that. Honestly, I really felt a sense of relief when on the 20th I got the shot, and I thought I kind of crossed the finish line. “

Then, on Monday, he fell with a headache and a cough. The next day, he tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I was scared at first, but more than anything I think I was angry,” Mugele said. “I had maximum exposure, as much as any emergency room doctor in the country, and was spared for 10 months, and then getting it right after getting the vaccine is just plain stupid and frustrating.

The story continues

Pfizer vaccine given as 2 injections 21 days apart

Mugele always knew there was a chance of getting sick after his first dose.

The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is given as two injections 21 days apart. The two-dose regimen was found to be 95% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, but a single dose provided much less protection. This is why it is imperative that the vaccinees return for a second injection.

Read more: Primary care clinics hope to play an important role in vaccinating Americans, but some are unsure of when they will receive coronavirus vaccines. 3 large chains explain how they are preparing despite the lack of information.

It is also not known whether the vaccine completely prevents infection, and it may take up to a few weeks after vaccination for the body to develop immunity in the form of antibodies to the virus.

“These first eight days are really critical,” Mugele said. “People still have to be absolutely isolated. They have to wear their masks, they have to wash their hands, they have to avoid going out before they get the vaccine.”

“ It was just stupid luck ”

Mugele said he still plans to receive his second dose on January 12, assuming his symptoms have gone away about a week in advance. He also stressed that his infection was not a sign of a problem with the vaccine.

“It was just stupid luck,” he said. “I was exposed a few days after receiving the vaccine, but it is still the best tool we have to fight the virus.”

As an emergency room doctor, Mugele also had a higher risk of infection than many Americans, especially because his hospital is filling up with coronavirus patients.

“Our hospital looks pretty much like every other hospital in the country,” he said. “We have higher volumes than ever.”

U.S. vaccine rollout is slow

The number of coronavirus hospitalizations in the United States has tripled in the past two months, peaking at nearly 125,000 on Tuesday. Mugele said he was sad that another doctor had to cover his shift during this critical time.

“The changes these days are really, really hard,” he said. “We see people in non-ideal conditions, like in the hallway or in the waiting room, so it’s a stressful and stressful work environment. Everyone is already exhausted.

Although vaccines remain the fastest way to stop the pandemic, the rollout of vaccination in the United States has been extremely slow compared to what federal officials had anticipated. Earlier this month, the Trump administration predicted that 20 million Americans would receive a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. The United States has shipped around 14 million doses so far, but only about 2.6 million people have received their first injections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.

“It’s really important that until we have widespread immunization rates across the country, even though you have both doses of the vaccine, you still have to be careful,” Mugele said. “You should always wear your mask in public, and you should always avoid large gatherings, and you should always wash your hands. We are still in the thick of it.

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