More than one in five Americans has been completely vaccinated against COVID-19. But vaccinated people can still get the coronavirus, although infections are extremely rare and usually mild.
Of the 75 million people in the United States who were completely vaccinated as of Tuesday, some 5,800 had still tested positive for COVID-19, in what is known as “advanced infection,” according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diseases (CDC).
Some of these infections in vaccinated people were severe. About 400 of the 5,800 people with advanced infections, or 7 percent, needed hospitalization and 74, or 1.3 percent, died from the disease, the CDC said in a statement.
The report is another reminder that, as Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health experts have insisted for months, vaccination is not a definitive way to end the pandemic. Wearing masks and social distancing remain of critical importance until we have enough immunity to stop the circulation of the virus.
“The vaccine works as expected”
These innovative infections are to be expected and are in line with the operation of other vaccines, the CDC said.
“We expect thousands of advanced vaccine cases to occur even though the vaccine works as expected,” the statement said.
“With the number of advanced cases, I think the important thing is to look at what the denominator of vaccinated people is,” Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said during a White House press conference last week .
Advanced infections have occurred in approximately 0.008 percent of people who have received the COVID-19 shot and have allowed them to become effective two full weeks. Deadly cases of progress have been very rare; the Minnesota Department of Health recorded zero deaths in the first 89 cases of advanced infection in the state.
“It’s important to know that even if someone is vaccinated and then is one of the few unfortunate people to develop an advanced case, there may still be some level of protection provided by the vaccine,” said Kris Ehresmann, infectious of the department. director of the disease, said during a briefing in March.
The percentage of advanced infections in Minnesota at the time was about 0.01 percent.
New CDC figures also suggest that authorized COVID-19 vaccines are almost perfect for preventing death, as clinical trials had suggested: with 74 deaths in 75 million people fully vaccinated, the vaccines appeared to be 99.99 % effective.
Some people who are vaccinated and then become infected may not even know it, as about a third of advanced infections (29%) were asymptomatic, could only be discovered with one test, the CDC said.
40 percent of advanced infections were in people over 60 who were completely vaccinated
The risk of an advanced infection may not be the same among all vaccinated people. The CDC said about 40 percent of advanced infections reported had been detected in people over 60, a demographic population in which vaccines are usually less effective.
“Older people, especially if they are fragile and have underlying conditions, are unlikely to have responded so well to the vaccine,” Fauci said.
“When someone is already old and may or may not have an underlying illness, it’s unfortunate, but it’s not surprising that you can have a couple of deaths.”
The CDC said it created an “advanced vaccine database” nationwide for state health departments to help the federal government control cases.
“People who have been completely vaccinated should continue to take precautions in public places such as wearing a mask, staying at least 1.83 meters apart from others, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated areas, and washing their hands often,” said the CDC.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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