A Texas woman claims she tested positive for the new coronavirus after her second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Paige Crain, a teacher in Austin, told local news station KXAN that she received her second dose of Moderna vaccine at the end of February. In addition to taking some ‘small liberties’, Crain said she still adhered to the safety protocols surrounding the virus as her youngest son is at high risk for serious illnesses.
However, two weeks after her second dose, Crain said she began to experience mild cold symptoms, claiming she later tested positive for COVID-19.
“I did not expect it to be positive at all,” Crain told KXAN.
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Crain probably experienced a rare ‘breakthrough’ case of COVID-19 – meaning she contracted the virus despite being vaccinated. But according to experts, this was probably also the reason why she experienced only mild symptoms.
Dr John Whyte, chief medical officer of the healthcare website WebMD, said that although rare, breakthrough cases are possible.
The vaccines are very good, he said, but “are not 100% effective,” he told Fox News.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus jabs – of which Crain said the latter – are very effective, but not 100%. Both jabs are said to be 95% effective in preventing a symptomatic COVID infection, with a person being completely vaccinated at least two weeks after their second dose of one or two jabs. The same goes for those who receive Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus uptake, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Whyte said breakthrough cases can occur if someone is infected while receiving the vaccine or has been exposed to the virus before their body has had time to build up immunity after vaccination.
Breakthrough reports have been reported elsewhere in the country, such as in Minnesota earlier this month and in Oregon in February.
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“Such cases are not unexpected,” Oregon health officials said in a statement at the time. “Clinical trials of both vaccines currently in use have included breakthrough cases.”
“No vaccine has a 100% efficacy,” an expert told Prevention. It was added that such cases are usually mild and ‘are associated with a low virus load, which means that these individuals may not even be contagious.’
Whyte added that reports of breakthrough cases are a reminder of ‘why we still need to take precautions’ until experts say otherwise.