SALT LAKE CITY – Utah is approaching the million residents who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine.
Of that number, more than 540,000 Utahs were fully vaccinated, according to Utah Department of Health data Friday. But as that number increases, Utah is not alone in documented ‘breakthrough’ COVID-19 cases. These are new cases of COVID-19, even after it has been completely vaccinated.
Dr. Angela Dunn, state epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health, on Thursday confirmed that there were 97 confirmed breakthrough cases at that time among the 521,000 fully vaccinated Utahns, representing less than 0.02% of the number of fully vaccinated Utahns by the figures of Thursday. .
“This is really amazing and speaks to the great effectiveness of the vaccinations we have,” she said of the low percentage of breakthrough cases.
Many other states in the US have also reported a low number of breakthrough cases. The Washington Department of Health acknowledged Tuesday it had 102 documented breakthrough cases; the Star Tribune reported last week that there were 89 cases in Minnesota.
There are several reasons for breakthrough cases. First, medical experts quickly say that no vaccine is 100% effective; Health department officials did not specify which vaccine was given in any of the breakthrough cases, but it is possible with any vaccine.
Second, public health officials have warned that coronavirus variants could potentially make the vaccines less effective.
So far, only two of the breakthrough cases have been followed up and both were variants that originated in California, known as B.427 / 429. are as more well-known variants that originated in Brazil, South Africa or the United Kingdom.
“There are concerns about the variants emerging that there will be less efficacy among the vaccines, but these are still very effective vaccines, which are fantastic,” she said. “We are not worried that the (variants) will reduce the effectiveness so much that it will have to change our public health strategy … science shows that the vaccines are still effective against the variants.”
State health officials remained optimistic that the vaccine would do its job, even after breakthrough cases emerged.
Dunn said there was recently a group of more than 15 breakthrough cases in a long-term care facility in Utah, but none of the individuals who tested positive had symptoms. This was an indication that the vaccine could prevent serious diseases, even if people who have been fully vaccinated have COVID-19.
“This is a population that will have a very high mortality rate before vaccination,” she said. “Because of the vaccine, none of them had symptoms this time.”
There were five more hospitalizations among the 97 documented cases in Utah. Dunn said all five were “older adults with underlying health conditions”, making it unclear whether their hospitalizations were linked to COVID-19 or due to their other health conditions.
The state plans to continue to detect and follow up on breakthrough cases in the future, which may give public health experts more insight into how the variants affect the vaccination process. Dunn also encouraged Utahns to receive the vaccine as soon as possible, which could help reduce the risk of spreading variants.
Dunn said: “It will move us in the right direction and end this pandemic.”