“I was shocked,” Hauser said. “I thought, ‘What is this?’ How did it happen?’ I now tell everyone, including my colleagues, not to watch after the vaccination. ‘
As more Americans are vaccinated every day, a small but growing number are struggling with the disturbing experience of getting COVID, even though they have had one shot or even two.
In data released on Thursday, April 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that at least 5,800 people became ill for two weeks or more or tested positive for the coronavirus after completing both doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine has.
A total of about 78 million Americans are now fully vaccinated.
These so-called breakthrough infections have occurred among people of all ages. Just over 40% were in people 60 years and older, and 65% were in women. Twenty-nine percent of the infected people reported no symptoms, but 7% were hospitalized and just over 1%, 74 people, died, according to the CDC.
Public health officials said breakthrough infections were expected as manufacturers warned loudly and regularly that the vaccines were not 100% protective. The Pfizer and Moderna versions have been shown to be more than 90% effective throughout, most recently for at least six months. Studies have also shown that they are almost 100% effective in ensuring that the small fraction of vaccinated patients who contract the virus will not get serious cases or require hospitalization.
Yet people are usually shocked and confused when they become the rare breakthrough victim. After months of fear and precautions to avoid COVID, they felt safe once they got their shots.
Hauser, 52, stayed home from work to care for her children, aged 21 and 16, who both contracted the virus. She was confident that she was protected. She also cared for her father, who has cancer.
“It’s a small miracle that I did not infect him until I realized I was sick too,” Hauser said. Consistent with Hauser’s fickle behavior, Hauser’s husband, Brian, who had not yet been vaccinated, also never became infected.
Masha Gessen, a staff writer for The New Yorker, completed the two-shot process in mid-February. A month later, Gessen became ill and tested positive after Gessen’s son and partner, Julia Loktev, had COVID. The experience was ‘disturbing, even a little traumatic’, Gessen said. Loktev’s disease occurred six days after her first dose.
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“The psychological effect of getting the virus after a year of being very, very careful and getting vaccinated has struck me,” Gessen, 54, said in an interview with KHN. “It took me about three weeks to feel normal again.” Gessen wrote about The Experience in The New Yorker this month.
Dr. Kami Kim, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said doctors were equally upset when these cases surfaced.
‘Although it’s expected, it’s definitely confusing and frustrating for people, both doctors and patients. We all learn along the way and judge what is best for our patients – and for ourselves, ”Kim said.
Vaccination manufacturers said the number of breakthrough cases reported by the CDC was not surprising.
Modern’s latest analysis of its clinical trial data shows that 900 people received COVID after being vaccinated, which equates to 90% vaccine efficacy, said Colleen Hussey, company spokeswoman.
Pfizer spokeswoman Jerica Pitts said the company would monitor trial participants two years after their second dose to learn more about protecting the Pfizer vaccine against COVID.
In their report, the CDC strictly defines a breakthrough case as disease or a positive test two weeks or more after complete vaccination. But tens of thousands of people who had a first shot or two weeks after their second shot also become infected.
Pfizer and Moderna report data showing up to 80% protection against infection two weeks after the first shot. But most experts believe that the protection varies greatly, from 50% to 80%, depending on the length of time after the shot and the individual variation that exists with any vaccine.
The second shot further increases immunity, but not for a few days, at least, and then builds up over two weeks. And again, these would mean that you have to spend for these processes.
Leslie Fratkin, 60, a freelance photographer in New York, received her second dose of Pfizer on March 12. So she was surprised when clear symptoms of COVID appeared on March 24 and she was home for three days.
“You can’t print the words I uttered at the time,” she said.
The CDC advises people taking COVID after a first admission to get the second dose shortly after recovery, without setting the minimum waiting time. This is a change from the general advice in December and January, when some state health departments advised people to wait 90 days after an attack COVID to get a first or second shot, and especially a second shot.
To bring about this important change, increasing evidence from studies and experience indicates that the immunity to infection conferred by the vaccines is, over time, stronger and possibly more “stable” than the immunity acquired by COVID infection.
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said further research and better public health education are urgently needed. For example, is even a second dose needed for people getting COVID after the first dose, or does the infection itself serve as enough of an immune system? And if a second survey is recommended, what is the best waiting period before you get it?
“These are important practical questions that need to be put forward,” Osterholm said. “We’re flying blind now.”
Other countries have treated the onset of the second dose differently.
In the UK, health authorities have delayed it to 12 weeks, expanding the vaccine supply and giving priority to getting at least one shot faster into the arms of more people. In Canada, a state information advisory committee on April 7 recommended that second doses be delayed to four months.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a COVID adviser to President Joe Biden, said during two press conferences this month that the number of breakthrough cases so far in the US is no cause for concern and that the administration will continue to monitor these cases closely.
An important line of investigation is how large a role variants or mutated versions of the initial coronavirus play in these breakthrough cases. Research suggests that current vaccines may be slightly less effective against some new variants.
Martha Sharan, a CDC spokeswoman, said the agency now insists that states use genetic sequencing to test virus samples from patients with breakthrough cases to identify variants. In the state of Washington, for example, eight variants have been detected in the genetic sequence of nine outbreak cases reported until April 3rd.
The Biden government today announced spending $ 1.7 billion on the COVID Enlightenment Bill to help the CDC, states and other jurisdictions track variants more effectively and through genomic sequencing efforts to determine.
The CDC has also launched a national breakthrough database for COVID vaccines that allows state health departments to store and manage data.
“We are behind with the order of samples,” Osterholm said. “It gives us valuable information.”
KHN’s senior correspondent JoNel Aleccia contributed to this story.
Steven Findlay, a KHN contributing reporter, came down with COVID 30 days after his first dose and 24 hours after his second dose.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national news agency that provides in-depth journalism on health issues. Together with policy analysis and survey, KHN is one of the three most important operational programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is a dedicated non-profit organization that provides information on health issues to the country.