A California nurse tested positive for COVID-19 just one week after receiving the Pfizer vaccine.
The nurse, identified as Matthew W., received the first dose of the vaccine on Dec. 18 and had only mild arm pain at the time.
Within six days, the 45-year-old began to experience chills, muscle aches and fatigue, which according to the local ABC News station are mentioned as symptoms of the coronavirus.
Matthew worked in the COVID-19 unit in his hospital the day he felt sick and he later did a test for the virus that confirmed he was positive, ABC News reported.
The infectious disease specialist, dr. Christian Ramers, who works with Family Health Centers in San Diego, told ABC’s KGTV that it’s not unexpected that someone who has been vaccinated can catch the virus. He explained that it takes a while before the vaccine develops COVID-19 protection.
“We know from clinical trials of the vaccine that it will take about 10 to 14 days before you start developing protection against the vaccine,” Ramers told the news agency.
Ramers added that the first dose of the vaccine not only provides protection against the virus.
“That first dose we think gives you somewhere around 50 percent, and you need the second dose to get up to 95 percent,” he said.
He further explained that it is possible that Matthew contracted the virus before receiving the first shot on December 18th.
With the coronavirus incubation period lasting almost 14 days, he may have only begun to show symptoms after being vaccinated, reports ABC News.
“You hear the health practitioners are very optimistic that this is the beginning of the end, but it’s going to be a slow roll, weeks to months as we roll out the vaccine,” Ramers said.
The vaccine began to roll out slowly in the United States, with many first responders and health workers being among the first.
Earlier this week, Deputy President-elect Kamala Harris received her first dose of vaccine and urged Americans to get it as soon as it is available.
“It’s relatively painless. It happens really fast. It is safe, “she said at the time.
“It’s literally about saving lives,” she added. “I trust the scientists, and it is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine.”