SALEM, Ore. The Oregon health authority announced Friday that the first known “breakthrough” cases in coronavirus have been detected in the state – individuals who have been fully vaccinated but tested positive for COVID-19.
OHA said there are currently four such cases. All received their second dose of vaccine for at least 14 days before testing positive.
Two of the cases are in Yamhill County, and two more in Lane County. OHA said it is working with local public health officials to investigate the origin of these cases.
Diseases between the four cases range from asymptomatic to mild symptoms.
“Genome sequencing is underway, and we expect results next week,” the agency said.
Breakthrough cases are “not unexpected,” OHA said. Clinical trials of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine led to some of these cases, although the severity of the diseases tended to decrease.
“Based on what is known about vaccines for other diseases and early data from clinical trials, OHA experts believe that the existing vaccines are very effective,” the agency concluded.
The daily number of vaccinations done in Oregon continued to increase, with 25,772 doses added to the state registry on Friday – the majority due to vaccinations done on Thursday. To date, a total of 649,602 first and second doses have been administered in the state, of more than 884,000 delivered at locations in Oregon.