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A new report reveals that 5,800 people who were fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused COVID-19, developed infections anyway.
5,800 may sound like a lot of people – and indeed, experts fear the number reported without context could lead to more hesitation about vaccination. Still, it’s important to note that these numbers, which come courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are a very small fraction of the total number of Americans vaccinated.
Two days ago, 125.8 million (38.3%) of the U.S. population received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 78.5 million (23.9%) were fully immunized. Vaccines for virtually any disease will end up being ineffective in at least a handful of cases, as even a nearly fully effective vaccine will eventually be given to people for whom they don’t work.
Even so, one of the goals of mass vaccination is to bring life back to what it was before the pandemic. While it’s reassuring that the CDC added in its email to CNN that “to date, no unexpected patterns have been identified with respect to demographics or vaccine characteristics,” the possibility that a vaccine doesn’t work is still there, and the public should always be educated on what that means.
Salon reached out to experts in public health and medicine for answers on how we should react to the news about “rupture infections” – the technical term for a situation in which a person becomes ill with an illness. which she was vaccinated.
How do COVID-19 vaccines work?
First, note that not all vaccines work the same. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use new technology. Known as mRNA vaccines, these vaccines contain a fragment of SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA that is associated with a specific protein on the surface of the virus – not the whole virus. Once injected into the body, cells learn to recognize the proteins associated with the dangerous pathogen. It currently requires two injections to be inoculated using these mRNA vaccines; The CEO of Pfizer recently said a third shot may be needed).
In contrast, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – which was “put on hold” by the FDA due to a rare blood clot problem – is a conventional vaccine, meaning it uses a weakened or dead form of the pathogen. to train your immune system. to fight the virus. This vaccine requires only one injection.
What are the chances of a person developing a rupture infection?
Dr Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Salon via email that the chances of developing a breakthrough case after being fully vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine are “Very weak”. She pointed to the extremely low percentage of Americans who had breakthrough cases (far, far, well below 1%) and also cited data from the CDC MMWR study which analyzed real-world efficacy at both among healthcare workers and frontline responders, as well as the Pfizer press release of April 1. (She added that we do not yet have similar data for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.)
“The chances of fully vaccinated individuals becoming infected with a variant of SARS-CoV-2 are limited,” Dr Irwin Redlener, head of the Columbia University Pandemic Response Initiative, told Salon. email. At the same time, he added that no vaccine is “100% effective,” which should guide our perception of the vaccination movement.
“90% protection is great – but it also means that if you vaccinate 1 million people, up to 100,000 people could have some breakthrough level of infection,” Redlener explained. “That said, most of those who are infected, few of them will have serious illness and / or not survive. The difference between those who have had just one vs. [two] Moderna or Pfizer vaccine doses is just a question of the level and durability of the immune response. “
In other words, even if you get vaccinated and later receive COVID-19, you are unlikely to have a severe case.
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Is there anything that will make a person more likely to have a revolutionary case after having already been vaccinated?
There are a number of “reasonable assumptions” about this, but they are not yet known, explained Dr Russell Medford, chairman of the Center for Global Health Innovation and Global Health Crisis Coordination Center.
“Although the reported CDC data reinforces our confidence in the high efficacy of our current vaccines, more research is needed to determine which specific factor (s), individual, vaccine and virus , may predispose a given individual to infection with the virus after vaccination, ”Medford told Salon via email. These can range from details of vaccines and virus strains to a person’s age and underlying health conditions.
Dr Alfred Sommer, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, told the Salon that “the risk of particularly serious infection and disease is reduced by vaccination, but not entirely eliminated.” Sommer said the potential risk “further increases that person’s exposure to infected people and the virus load (and the infectiousness of the variant) to which they are exposed.”
In other words, being around infected people and being exposed to the virus often is more likely to lead to infection regardless of vaccination.
“Everything from a person’s degree of exposure and how contagious their variant is to the specific functioning of their immune system can have an impact on things, “Sommer warned.” Vaccination greatly reduces the risk of infection and the severity of the disease, but does not guarantee against this.
How often should I be tested for COVID-19 after being vaccinated?
Sommer stressed that if you are fully vaccinated, there is no reason to be tested regularly for the presence of the virus unless you are showing symptoms of COVID-19. Also, if you start to experience these symptoms, you should take precautions so that you do not potentially infect other people despite the fact that their vaccination means they are less likely to have the disease.
Finally, they need to make sure they’re getting the right kind of test, Sommer said. Indeed, an antibody test will reveal the presence of antibodies, the result of the vaccination. “Any test they get has to test for the presence of the virus,” Sommer explained.
What activities can people safely resume after being vaccinated?
Dr Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told Salon via email that people can take small steps to get back to normal lives, but they still need to be very careful.
“People who are fully vaccinated may be surrounded by small groups of others who are fully vaccinated,” Benjamin explained. “Wearing a mask is always recommended when you are surrounded by people who are not in your usual group or in large groups, even when everyone is fully immunized. This may change as we better understand the risks of infection and transmission among those vaccinated.
Redlener said life is gradually returning to normal, although like Benjamin he called for caution.
“With the warning that there should be no easing of public health protocols, like masking and social distancing, we will soon see more people traveling, attending events – think concerts, sporting events and theater, ”Redlener said. “In addition, small gatherings of family members and close friends indoors without a mask are now allowed if everyone is vaccinated and the length and duration of contact is limited.”
Gandhi expressed his optimism.
“They can safely resume all activities after being vaccinated but should wear masks and distance themselves in public areas to be polite to others who are not vaccinated and also because some places in our country still have rates high cases in circulation, ”Gandhi explained. “Like Dr. [Anthony] Fauci said yesterday: ‘Vaccines protect you, so go get vaccinated – that’s the message.’ “She added that Fauci said if you’ve been fully vaccinated and are with other people who have been vaccinated,” you shouldn’t be worried at all. . Zero.”
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