The United States has recorded a big milestone this week. Just yesterday, the White House has declared half of the U.S adult population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19. This announcement was preceded by the Centre of Disease Control and Protection declaration the same day: Covid-19 cases are an extreme rarity in fully vaccinated individuals.
Such an extreme case is popularly known as a ‘breakthrough infection,’ which has a 0.01% chance of occurring in people who have taken the vaccine. Even though vaccines don’t guarantee 100% protection, they are still increasingly effective at bolstering immune systems, and ensuring people don’t end up in the hospital, or worse, losing their lives, as noted by the CDC.
Dr. John Brownstein, a pediatrics professor at the Harvard Medical School stated how CDC’s report confirms the existence of such cases, which is incredibly rare in itself. According to Brownstein, even if these breakthrough infections are to occur, “they mostly have no clinical significance.”
Despite the conviction of the CDC and other medical experts, several New York Yankees tested positive for Covid-19, even though they were fully vaccinated. Not only did these cases become the talk of the town, but also contributed significantly to sparking more confusion about the vaccine. However, experts have recommended people understand the reality of the vaccination process- no vaccine will ensure full protection, but it will protect from severe Covid-19 symptoms.
South Shore Health’s infectious disease specialist, Dr. Simone Wildes announced that they always tell people about the chance of catching Covid-19, even after getting vaccinated. “We know in general that vaccines may not work as well in immunocompromised individuals, but, overall, we haven’t seen a lot of breakthrough clusters,” affirmed Dr. Wildes.
The end of April recorded a massive increase in overall vaccinations, making 101 million U.S adults fully vaccinated from Covid-19. In comparison, there have been only 10,262 breakthrough infections recorded in the report of CDC. These cases usually only exhibited mild symptoms and were generally taken well by patients. Only 10% of people who got the breakthrough infection require hospitalization, whereas the 2% of people who died were mostly elderly people with already-compromised immunities.
Approximately two-thirds of these breakthrough infections occurred in women, although experts have been unable to conclude the reason for this disparity. Till now, far more women have been vaccinated as compared to men. The latest data elicited suggests that almost 64.2 million women are now fully vaccinated against the virus.
Nevertheless, the recent findings shared by the CDC and the declaration made by the White House provide a newfound hope for the U.S to emerge from the pandemic; stronger than ever. The only concern right now is to address the unvaccinated lot, and convince them to get their shots at the earliest, stated Dr. Michelle Medina, associate chief of clinical operations for Cleveland Community Care.
