It is inevitable that some people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will still get a “breakthrough” infection, Anthony Fauci
Anthony Fauci Vacci vaccinated accommodates people at home, but stays away from overcrowded indoor spaces Trump endorses Rand Paul for re-election The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden: Let’s make an agreement on infrastructure, taxes MORE said Monday, because no vaccine is 100 percent effective.
A breakthrough infection is when someone contractes a disease, despite being vaccinated against it. Fauci noted that there would be hundreds and perhaps thousands of cases of people being completely vaccinated getting infected with COVID-19.
The key is to compare the small number of infections with the tithes, and ultimately hundreds of millions of people who have been vaccinated, Fauci said.
“We see it with all vaccines, in clinical trials, in the real world,” Fauci said during an information session at the White House. “No vaccine is 100 percent effective or effective, which means you will always see breakthrough infections, regardless of the effectiveness of your vaccine.”
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that the best example of breakthrough infections with flu vaccine occurs. The flu virus mixes quickly and even during a good year, the shot is only 40 to 60 percent effective.
Although a vaccine does not protect against infection, it often protects against serious diseases.
“If you are vaccinated, you are less likely to get the flu. But even if you get the flu and get sick, vaccination can reduce the severity and duration of the illness, and it can help you get out of trouble,” he said. Fauci said.
During the briefing, Fauci also addressed an Israelite pre-print study which made headlines over the weekend, apparently finding that the B.1.351 variant could evade protection against the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine somewhat.
“With all due respect to my Israeli friends, I think the forward pressure was, as it were, as confusing as you could possibly be,” Fauci said. “The only thing that is not confusing is that two doses are really good” if you want to be fully protected.
Fauci said the study makes it sound as if people receiving two doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine are more likely to become infected with the B.1.351 variant than people who have not been vaccinated at all.
Fauci said protecting the vaccine means that in the unlikely event that an infection does break through, it will likely be the ‘harder variant’, but ‘it does not mean you have a better chance of getting it.’