- About 5,800 of 75 million fully vaccinated Americans received COVID-19, according to the CDC.
- Such ‘breakthrough’ cases are to be expected, according to the CDC, because vaccines are not 100% effective.
- It is rare, occurring in about 0.008% of vaccines, but is more common in older adults.
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More than one in five Americans is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But vaccinated people can still get the coronavirus, although infections are extremely rare and usually quite mild.
Of the 75 million people in the U.S. who were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, about 5,800 still tested positive for COVID-19, known as a ‘breakthrough infection’, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some of the infections in vaccinated were serious. About 400 of the 5,800 people with breakthrough infections, or 7%, had to be hospitalized, and 74, or 1.3%, died of the disease, the CDC said in a statement.
The report is another reminder that, as dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health experts have been emphasizing for months that vaccination is not a one-time way to end the pandemic. Wearing masks and social removal remains critical until we have enough immunity to stop the circulation of the virus.
‘The vaccine works as expected’
These breakthrough infections are to be expected and are consistent with how other vaccines work, the CDC said.
“We expect thousands of breakthrough cases to occur, even if the vaccine works as expected,” the statement said.
Read more: All the differences between COVID-19 vaccines, summarized in a simple table that you can take after your vaccination
“With the number of breakthrough cases, I think, it’s important to look at what the denominator of vaccines is,” Fauci, the leading expert in the US, said at a White House press conference last week.
Breakthrough infections occurred in approximately 0.008% of people who had their COVID-19 survey (s) and put them into action for two full weeks. Fatal breakthrough cases were very rare; the Minnesota Department of Health did not count any deaths in the first 89 breakthrough infection cases in the state.
“It is important to know that even if someone is vaccinated and then is one of the few unfortunate people who can develop a breakthrough case, there can still be some protection through the vaccine,” said Kris Ehresmann, the department’s infectious disease director, said during a briefing in March.
The breakthrough of infections in Minnesota at that time was about 0.01%.
The new figures from the CDC also indicate that the authorized COVID-19 vaccines are almost perfect for preventing death, as clinical trials have suggested: With 74 deaths in 75 million people fully vaccinated, the vaccines appear to be 99.99 % to be effective.
Some people who are vaccinated and then become infected may not even know it, because about a third of the breakthrough infections (29%) were asymptomatic, and this can only be detected with a test, the CDC said.
40% of the breakthrough infections were in people older than 60
CRISTINA QUICLER / contributor / Getty Images
The risk of a breakthrough infection may not be the same for everyone who is vaccinated. According to the CDC, about 40% of breakthrough infections are detected in people over 60, a demographic in which vaccines are often less effective.
“It is likely that elderly people, especially if they have poor and underlying conditions, may not have responded so well to the vaccine,” Fauci said. “If someone is already elderly and possibly has an underlying condition, it’s unfortunate, but not surprising that you could have some deaths.”
The CDC said it had created a nationwide ‘vaccine breakthrough database’ for state health departments to help the federal government monitor cases.
“People who are fully vaccinated should take precautions in public places, such as wearing a mask, staying at least 6 feet apart, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated areas, and washing their hands regularly,” the CDC said. said.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story relied on outdated data from the CDC on how many people were fully vaccinated by April 13, 2021. By that time, 75 million people in the U.S. were fully vaccinated, not 66 million.