Ten residents in a nursing home in Brenham tested positive for COVID-19 after taking one or both doses of vaccine, the facility confirmed Wednesday.
Six residents of the Focused Care nursing home received their first dose, while four received their second doses of the shot, facility officials said. They were among 17 residents who recently tested positive.
Five residents who tested positive did not want to be vaccinated. According to the facility, two of the positive residents were admitted to the nursing home after vaccines were offered.
Six staff members in the nursing home also tested positive. Three of those who tested positive have not yet been vaccinated.
Fourteen of the infected residents were transferred to Focused Care in Baytown. Two residents now live in Kruse Village in the COVID-19 unit, while one has been admitted to the local hospital in Brenham, according to the statement.
The nursing home in Brenham did routine tests, but according to the facility’s statement, a staff member tested positive on 22 February.
“Outbreak tests take place every 3 to 4 days and are required by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC),” the statement said. “The regular tests will continue until there are no positive tests within 14 days.”
After the regular testing is completed, residents will still be tested for Covid-19 twice a week.
Nanette Riedell-Mendez told KPRC that her mother tested positive for COVID-19 after taking her final dose of Pfizer vaccine in January.
On March 1, nursing home officials told Riedell-Mendez that her mother, Francine Riedell, tested positive.
The 95-year-old collapsed and was admitted to hospital, but now appears to be doing well, Riedell-Mendez told KPRC.
In total, 21 out of the 35 residents at the nursing home were vaccinated. Six residents, according to the facility, refused to receive the vaccine.
The six staff members who tested positive are out of quarantine. One of the staff members has been quarantined and will return to work on 8 March.
There are no positive staff members or residents on the premises at the Brenham Nursing Home.
“Focused Care will continue with the same guarantees before Governor Abbott’s announcement until new leads are issued by the Centers for Disease and Prevention Control (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),” the facility said.
In the statement, the facility notes that The Centers for Disease Control says it takes two weeks after someone is vaccinated “before the body builds up protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19.”
“This means that it is possible for a person to still receive COVID-19 before or just after vaccination and then become ill because the vaccine did not have enough time to provide protection,” according to the CDC.
This story has been updated to correct information about the number of residents who received a vaccine and were later tested positive for Covid.