PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Health Director in Allegheny County, dr. Debra Bogen says the data on residents who are positive for COVID-19 after being vaccinated are “very encouraging.”
She says the province is aware of 109 breakthrough cases, which means that someone 14 or more days after being fully vaccinated is positive for COVID-19, out of the approximately 213,000 residents who were fully vaccinated by the end of March.
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“It’s about 0.05% of those vaccinated, which is remarkable,” she said.
The CDC says the Pfizer vaccine was 95% effective in clinical trials, the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective and the Johnson & Johnson 66.3% effective.
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Bogen says hundreds of people test positive for COVID-19 every day. Among these cases are an increasing number of variant strains. The positivity rate reached 9.6%, which is higher than last week.
She expressed concern about vaccination hesitation after the CDC asked this week to halt the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson shot, following reports that a small percentage of women had serious health conditions. She says to her knowledge it did not happen locally.
More than 800,000 people have been partially vaccinated in Allegheny County, which is about half of the country’s adult population.
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Rich Fitzgerald, CEO of Bogen and Allegheny County, urged people to be vaccinated.