Nearly 6,000 “breakthrough cases” of Americans infected with the coronavirus despite vaccination have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – far less than 1% of the 76 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated.
The CDC, in an email to USA TODAY, said nearly 400 of the 5800 cases required hospitalization and 74 died. More than 40% of the infections were in people 60 years and older, 65% were female and 29% were asymptomatic, the CDC said.
Kristen Nordlund, spokesperson for CDC, said that all the available vaccines are effective in preventing serious diseases, hospitalizations and deaths. “However, as seen with other vaccines, we expect thousands of breakthrough cases to occur in vaccines, even if the vaccine works as expected.”
Infections were expected despite vaccination – the two-way Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines are more than 90% effective and the Johnson & Johnson one-vaccine vaccine about 70%. But no vaccine is 100% effective, experts say.
The CDC still recommends that people who have been fully vaccinated take precautions in public places, such as wearing a mask, staying at least 6 feet apart, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated areas, and washing their hands regularly. .
“Vaccination breakthrough infections make up a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated,” Nordlund said. “CDC recommends that all eligible people receive a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available.”
Also in the news:
►Michigan’s largest hospital system is going to tents to handle emergency care because it deals with a large number of COVID-19 patients in the suburbs of Detroit. Beaumont Health said it had more than 800 COVID patients on Thursday, compared to 500 two weeks ago and 128 at the end of February.
►Iran has reached an agreement with Russia to buy 60 million doses of Sputnik V 2 dose of vaccine. Iran, with a population of 83 million, began a ten-day shutdown on Saturday amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.
► Colorado health officials say nearly 4,000 people who have received COVID-19 vaccinations at a medical spa need to be vaccinated because they cannot confirm that the doses have been stored properly.
► Americans in ‘blue states’ who are democratically thin seem to be vaccinated at more robust prices, while those in a ‘red’ Republican state seem reluctant.
►Ivanka Trump received her first COVID-19 shot and encourages others to be vaccinated as soon as possible.
► Elizabeth’s health director Elizabeth Hertel traveled to Alabama with family last week for spring break despite her department’s guidance to avoid traveling outside the state while Michigan gets a raging outbreak of the coronavirus.
📈 Today’s numbers: According to Johns Hopkins University data, the U.S. has more than 31.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 564,000 deaths. The global total: 138 million cases and more than 2.97 million deaths. According to the CDC, more than 250.99 million doses of vaccine have been distributed in the US and 194.7 million have been administered.
📘 What we read: Although it is still dark, a picture is beginning to emerge about the link between two types of COVID-19 vaccines and rare blood clots. Read more here.
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J&J vaccine is interrupted problematically for the marginalized population in Florida
The interruption of the Johnson & Johnson vaccination is a bump in the road to complete vaccination for health workers who rely on the single dose to vaccinate more than 100,000 farm workers in Florida before migrating north. The Healthcare Network, which reached more than 430 farm workers in Immokalee on Saturday, will now rely on the two-dose vaccine Moderna.
“Ensuring patients return for shot two is a major concern for organizations working with marginalized and underserved populations who struggle with poor access to transportation or are unable to leave work easily,” said Gabrielle O’Boyle. a spokesman for the network, said.
– Janine Zeitlin, Naples Daily News
California opens vaccinations for all adults
California and Washington on Thursday opened vaccinations for all adults. Gavin Newsom, governor of California, also urged all schools in the state to reopen, saying there are no health barriers to getting the state’s 6.2 million public school students back into the classroom. California’s COVID-19 infections continue to decline and more residents are being vaccinated. However, the state’s decentralized education system allows the 1200 school districts to govern themselves.
“Money is not an object right now,” Newsom said Wednesday. “That’s an excuse.”
CDC says empty center seats reduce exposure. Will airlines discuss this?
According to a study released by the CDC on Wednesday, the middle seats on airplanes reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19. The research, conducted in collaboration with Kansas State University, found that exposure to ‘viable’ virus particles is reduced by 23% to 57% when the middle seats are empty.
The conclusion: ‘Physical distance from aircraft passengers, including through policies such as vacancy in the middle seat, may provide additional reduction in the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 on aircraft.’ distance between travelers.
Delta Air Lines is the only U.S. airline still blocking middle seats in the economy, and the practice ends on May 1st. Suidwes stopped blocking seats. 1 December. Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, has repeatedly said there is no way to keep passengers at 6 meters apart. an airplane, and Josh Earnest, chief communications officer, said last summer that seat blocking is a public relations strategy, not a safety strategy.
– Dawn Gilbertson
More committee needed on the rare side effect of J&J vaccine, says the committee
An interruption in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine should continue until more is known about a rare side effect of vaccines, a federal advisory committee decided Wednesday. The committee will meet again within a week to ten days to evaluate more data that is expected to be available. The extremely rare blood clots were reported in seven of the 7.2 million Americans who received the J&J vaccine. The last six cases were reported in women aged 18 to 48 years, and symptoms occurred six to 13 days after vaccination. One woman died and three remained in hospital.
There was concern that the break would harm those who need the vaccine, as J&J only needs one shot and can be stored and transported more easily than the other two authorized vaccines. But the committee noted that the continuation of the pause would not significantly affect the ability to vaccinate Americans.
The J&J vaccine so far makes up less than 5% of the shots administered in the United States. The other two vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna did not have such effects.
– Karen Weintraub
This article originally appeared on the USA TODAY: news COVID-19: the vaccination of California and Washington is open