On Wednesday, Barbara Ferrer, director of public health in Los Angeles County, confirmed that at least a dozen locals were infected with Covid-19 after being fully vaccinated.
“Yes, it is possible to test positive for the virus after it has been fully vaccinated,” Ferrer reported. She estimates that the number of infections after vaccination is probably ‘very small’.
Ferrer said all the so-called ‘breakthrough cases’ of contamination detected in the country have occurred in long-term care institutions. In total, there were 12 people who were fully vaccinated who were infected. Four of them were residents of the facilities and eight staff members.
‘I’m sure there are other places [in L.A. County] because I know across the country that there were more [breakthrough] cases, ”Ferrer said before noticing that the cases were detected in long-term care facilities, probably not because of a lack of precaution, but rather because the data from the environments is better.
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“This is one place where we have good information in part because of our strong partnership with long-term care facilities.”
Ferrer also added: ‘The vast majority of people who test positive after being fully vaccinated are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms.
‘Here’s LA County. We do not know of anyone who has been admitted to hospital or – unfortunately – died. ‘
But as with other local breakthrough cases of Covid-19 infection, the data is very incomplete.
Earlier on Wednesday, 39 breakthrough cases were reported in Sonoma County in the past two and a half months, according to provincial officials.
It is unclear what the cause of the 12 infections is, but one source may be vaccine-resistant variants. The number of variants is growing in Los Angeles, although it is not certain what vaccine resistance may be, if any.
Health officials at national, state and local levels all note that the vaccine resistance between variants is not nearly total in any case. The vaccines still provide good protection.
“There’s nothing like a red flag yet. We are, of course, going to watch it very, very closely. But I do not see anything that changes our concept of the vaccine and its effectiveness, ”said Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a recent White House briefing.