Reuters fact check
Reuters fact check
A news report about a small number of people who contract COVID-19 after being vaccinated is ripped out of context. Users question in social reports the need to receive the vaccine if there is still the possibility of contracting the coronavirus. However, the chance of contracting the virus after vaccination is still very small, and vaccination reduces the risk of serious illness or death in such ‘breakthrough’ cases.
An example of the message can be seen here with the text: “What are the vaccines then good at other than making Big Pharma rich?”
The report shows a news clip from WKMG-TV, a CBS affiliate station in Orlando, Florida, that is visible here.
Both the original cut and the one in the claim show an interview with Dr Timothy Hendricks, who explains that no vaccine is perfect, but that those infected after receiving the vaccine are much less likely to be seriously ill .
Breakthrough cases are defined here by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention as people who contract COVID-19 after being vaccinated for it.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use for three COVID-19 vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen vaccines (here).
Pfizer / BioNTech said the vaccine has an efficacy rate of 95% (here), Moderna 94.1% (here) and Johnson & Johnson 66% to prevent COVID-19 in respective trials.
Moderna also reported a 100% protection rate against serious effects of COVID-19, while Pfizer said ten serious cases of the disease were reported in its Phase III trial, nine of which were in the placebo group and only one in the vaccine group. . (here).
In a trial of nearly 44,000 people, Johnson and Johnson found that the vaccine had 72% protection against moderate to severe COVID-19 in the United States (here).
The CDC explains on its website here that experts continue to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccines and their performance in the real world conditions. The total number of breakthrough cases has not yet been reported.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ leading expert on infectious diseases, said in a newsletter on April 9, 2021, that the breakthrough cases were not a red flag.
Fauci added: “Of course we are going to watch it very closely, but I do not see anything that changes our concept of the vaccine and its effectiveness.”
Reports of breakthrough cases observed in the US can be seen here, here and here. So far, this represents a very small number of people who have been vaccinated and still contracted COVID-19.
VERDICT
Missing context and misleading. Although breakthrough cases may occur after vaccination against COVID-19, they are rare, and even in these few cases, the vaccination still reduces the risks of serious illness or death.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.