BROOMFIELD, Colo. A fully vaccinated Broomfield man suspects he has contracted a variant of COVID-19. Now he hopes his experience will encourage others to take precautions as public health orders are facilitated.
“I was vaccinated more than a month ago, so I felt I was safe against COVID,” said Kraig Vandiver.
Late last week he started experiencing an itchy throat and small cough. He decided to be tested for COVID-19, and he expected the results to confirm that he had a mild cold.
“I was absolutely shocked when I found out I tested positive,” Vandiver said.
Vandiver said he was contacted by CDPHE shortly thereafter and told that he probably contracted a variant of the disease.
“[She said] ‘it was safe to assume that this was the British variant to which I was probably exposed,’ said Vandiver.
In early March, state health officials warned that more infectious variants of COVID-19 were on the rise. By mid-March, officials said variants accounted for 30% of positive cases in Colorado.
On Wednesday, CDC director Rochelle Walensky said the British variant, B.1.1.7, had become the dominant tribe in the United States.
“There is a certain percentage of people who will test positive after vaccination,” says Dr. Ross Kedl, a professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. The most important feature to get the vaccine: ideally to prevent you from becoming infected, but ultimately to prevent you from becoming very ill, going to hospital and dying. ‘
Vandiver attributed his vaccination as the reason why he did not undergo a more extreme case with the disease.
“I really believe my symptoms were softer than I was vaccinated because I was vaccinated,” he said. “If you even feel that you have mild symptoms, take the right precautions. Let yourself be tested – do not wait. That would be my best advice.”