MISSION VIEJO (CBSLA) Monday marks three weeks since a Lake Forest man received his second dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, and one day since he received a positive COVID-19 test result.
Gary Michael, a Lake Forest man, says he tested positive for COVID-19 weeks after receiving his second dose of vaccine. (CBSLA)
“Yesterday I got a call from the Orange County Department of Health,” Gary Michael said. “They told me that, yes, I was positive with coronavirus, and they went through my symptoms and the precautions I had to take until quarantine.”
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Michael was tested for the virus when he went to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo on Saturday for an unrelated health issue.
“You may be surprised at the story of this man, the story of the patient, I am not, and this is not the first I have heard,” said Dr. Tirso del Junco Jr., chief medical officer of KPC Health, said. “I think I’ve heard over the last three weeks of six or seven independent cases from individuals who have been vaccinated with different timelines that have tested positive, and I think we’re going to see that more and more.”
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This is why doctors like del Junco have asked people to cover their faces – whether they have been vaccinated or not – especially in light of the new COVID-19 variants that are spreading in the community.
“We are really going to understand the efficacy and duration of these vaccines,” del Junco said. ‘Number two as soon as we started the vaccination program, when we started hearing about these mutant strains. We now have three aggressive mutant strains that people keep talking about, and that’s long after we started the vaccination process. ”
As for Michael, he said his resident friend tested positive for coronavirus five days after receiving his second dose, saying his case was relatively minor.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, clinical trials have shown that the Pfizer vaccine was ‘95% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease in people without laboratory confirmation without evidence of previous infection. ‘