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Nearly 400 people have been hospitalized and 100 have now died in Massachusetts from groundbreaking cases of COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated, state health officials said this week.
What is a breakthrough COVID case, how common are they and how are they tracked? Here’s what you need to know.
What is a revolutionary COVID case?
A vaccine breakthrough case occurs when a person tests positive for COVID-19 after being fully immunized against the disease.
A person is considered “fully vaccinated” two weeks after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccine, or two weeks after receiving the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
How many groundbreaking COVID cases has Massachusetts had?
Public health officials have followed 7,737 “groundbreaking” cases of COVID-19 among Massachusetts residents fully vaccinated against the disease, representing 0.18% of the estimated 4.3 million people immunized.
About 95% of infections among vaccinated residents did not require hospitalization, while 395 people, or 5.1%, were hospitalized, according to data from the state Department of Public Health through 31 July.
The DPH previously released data on breakthrough infections in response to requests for registration, and on Tuesday it released those figures for the first time as part of the immunization report it publishes every day of the week. The department said it plans to continue including updated breakthrough figures in Tuesday’s immunization reports in the future.
About 100 vaccinated Massachusetts residents have died from COVID-19, either without being hospitalized or as a result of a hospital stay, DPH said. That death toll reflects 1.2% of the 7,737 confirmed cases and 0.002% of the 4.3 million fully vaccinated people as of July 31.
Tufts Medical Center epidemiologist Dr Shira Doron told NBC10 Boston this week that while the groundbreaking cases are troubling, they are not as serious as the need for vaccination around the world.
“We have to put some of these numbers in a more realistic context just so that people, you know, so that people don’t panic, so that people make the right decisions based on the real risk,” she said. declared.
Michael Genereux, who tested positive for COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated and visiting Provincetown, describes the illness he has been experiencing since last week.
How many total breakthrough deaths have been reported in the United States?
The CDC has moved from monitoring all reported breakthrough cases to only reporting hospitalizations or deaths on May 1, the agency said.
As of July 26, the CDC said it has received reports from 49 U.S. states and territories of 6,239 patients with COVID infection who have been hospitalized and 1,263 who have died. About 52% of these patients were men and 48% women. Seventy-four percent were 65 or older.
Although the total number of breakthrough cases at this point is not made public, federal health officials have been tracking all breakthrough cases from January of this year to April 30, 2021.
The CDC said that during this period, a total of 10,262 groundbreaking cases of COVID were reported in 46 U.S. states and territories. About 63% of these cases involved women, with the median age of patients being 58 years.
The CDC said 27% of those breakthrough infections were asymptomatic, while 2% died.
About 10% of these groundbreaking cases were hospitalized, officials said, but among those hospitalized, 29% were asymptomatic or hospitalized for a reason other than COVID-19.
More than 5,100 Massachusetts residents have tested positive for COVID-19, despite having been fully vaccinated against the virus, and at least 80 of them have died, health officials from the said Tuesday evening. ‘State.
How common are groundbreaking COVID cases?
While breakthrough cases have been considered rare, they are possible and even “expected,” according to the CDC. Experts have said that while the vaccine itself cannot give you the virus, it is also not 100% effective at preventing the virus entirely, although those who receive the vaccine are much less likely to get the virus. be hospitalized or die from it, according to the data.
“COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are an essential tool in bringing the pandemic under control,” the CDC’s website read. “However, no vaccine is 100% effective in preventing disease in people who have been vaccinated. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who will still get sick, be hospitalized, or die from COVID-19.”
The CDC says it’s true for all vaccines: none prevent disease 100% of the time.
Massachusetts health officials continue to urge those who have not yet been vaccinated to do so.
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