CDC Studies 'Breakthrough' COVID Cases Among People Already Vaccinated

[iemanja]

Ginger Eatman thought she was safe after getting her second COVID-19 vaccination in February. But she kept wearing her mask, using hand sanitizer and wiping down the carts at the grocery store anyway. A few weeks later, she noticed a scratchy throat.
. . .

So Eatman got tested for the coronavirus. It came back positive.

"I was shocked. I almost cried," she says. "It was like: No, that can't be."

Eatman isn't alone in this experience. It's a long-recognized phenomenon called "vaccine breakthrough."
. . .

The three vaccines authorized for use against COVID-19 in the United States appear to be at least 94% effective at preventing severe disease and death (starting about two weeks after a person is fully vaccinated), according to data reported so far, and about 80% effective at preventing infection. But that's not 100%, Omer notes, so a relatively small number of infections despite immunization with these very effective vaccines is to be expected.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/04/13/986411423/a-mystery-under-study-how-why-and-when-covid-vaccines-arent-fully-protective

Today is two weeks since my second Pfizer vaccine. I'm no longer feeling so good about it.

[Phoenix61]

1. All vaccines are 100% effective at preventing

serious illness or death per Fauci. The 2 mRNA are 94% effective at preventing disease.

[iemanja]

3. I seriously doubt it's 100%

particularly with all the new variants. Time will tell.

[Phoenix61]

6. Just reporting what Fauci said. There have been

Last edited Thu Apr 15, 2021, 12:02 PM - Edit history (1)

no deaths or serious illness in someone who was fully vaccinated.

On edit: seems this was old information. Man the news moves fast!

[iemanja]

32. See these numbers from OR

Provided by another poster: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=15338843

[womanofthehills]

35. Look at what happened with Pfizer over in Israel

In their study with 400 people who had one or both Pfizer vaccines and who had later come down with Covid - a percentage had the more dangerous African strain. Washington state reported people in the hospital and dying after both vaccines.

Except, sadly, reported possible deaths from vaccine injury are growing according to the CDC's VAERS reports. https://medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=AGE&EVENTS=ON&VAX=COVID19&DIED=Yes

[Phoenix61]

37. The Israel study hasn't been peer reviewed.

Also, “Our results show reduced effectiveness against the [South African] variant only in a short window of time (7-13 days post-second dose) since all the breakthrough cases we saw were in this time frame,” Adi Stern, a professor at Tel Aviv University and one of the co-authors, said in an email. No idea why they would choose that time frame as it’s not fully effective until 14 days after 2nd dose. Not even sure how they are terming that “breakthrough”

As more people get vaccinated there will be an increase in total numbers of adverse events.

[Demsrule86]

24. I read that those vaccinated have some protection against serious illness with the new strains...

nothing is 100% but I like these odds.

[ananda]

31. Exactly. The variants will tell the next Covid tale, for sure.

I'm thinking boosters.

[NNadir]

47. I seriously doubt that there are any vaccines anywhere that prevent death.

There never will be any ever.

If you wish to discuss risk, I would consider the risk that people will grotesquely misinterpret the death of anyone who dies from the flu or any other respiratory disease after getting the vaccine as being related to Covid.

There is no evidence that the variants are particularly resistant to the vaccines, although, just as the case with flu, we should expect new resistant strains to arise from time to time. In this case, we redesign the vaccine, and only people too stupid to take the vaccine will suffer from it.

[Raven123]

5. Apparently not. 5800 cases. 396 hospitalized. 74 deaths

Reported on CNN. Wondering about the details, especially the variants.

[iemanja]

12. Interesting figures

Do you by chance have a link?

[Phoenix61]

16. Those numbers look like a state covid count.

If there had been that many hospitalizations and deaths in vaccinated people it would be all over the news.

[subterranean]

23. It was reported today by CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/health/breakthrough-infections-covid-vaccines-cdc/index.html

They say this was not unexpected, since the vaccines are not 100% effective in everyone (no vaccine is).
It's also important to keep the numbers in perspective. The 5800 cases represent less than .008% of Americans who have been fully vaccinated.

[Phoenix61]

28. And deaths are 0.0000009

One article I read noted data was coming from long-term care facilities because they had a good relationship with the local health department. But it definitely points to why it’s so important for everyone to get vaccinated.

[subterranean]

20. 5800 out of 77 million. That's a rate of 0.0075%.

I wonder what the data is on which vaccines people with "breakthrough infections" received.

[Phoenix61]

30. They are working on that analysis.

CDC has a database for breakthrough infections.

[Phoenix61]

21. Found it but not on the CNN cite. Weird.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kctv5.com/coronavirus/vaccine_tracker/cdc-reports-5-800-covid-infections-in-fully-vaccinated-people/article_0b4c684b-26c3-5463-ab69-010bd1015b52.amp.html

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. Why don't you feel good about the vaccine?

[iemanja]

4. Crossing the two week threshold

doesn't seem as liberating as I hoped, in light of incidents like these.

My hairdresser is coming to my house today because it has gotten too dangerous at her salon. We are both vaccinated, so we had planned not to wear masks. Now I'm not so sure.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. The breakthrough rate of 0.008% is fully in line with expectations, so if you felt good about

getting the vaccine when you first heard about it, this news should not change your outlook.

[womanofthehills]

36. Pfizer and the African strain breakthrough

"We found a disproportionately higher rate of the South African variant among people vaccinated with a second dose, compared to the unvaccinated group. This means that the South African variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine's protection," said Tel Aviv University's Adi Stern.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/south-african-variant-may-evade-protection-pfizer-vaccine-israeli-study-says-2021-04-12/

[SheltieLover]

7. Same here

Glad to be fully vaccinated, but there are no guarantees!

I did read an article which discussed how the .RNA vaccines are believed to train immune system to fight mutations. Some component stored in lymph nodes.

So there is that hope. After all, the Pfizer isonly 95% effective, so some folks will still contract covid.

I'm not giving up my mask or venturing out amongst humans anytime soon, but I still feel much better having had both Pfizers!

[iemanja]

11. Yes, I must continue to be vigilant too

but far better to be vaccinated than not.

[SheltieLover]

14. Absolutely!

No time to let your guard down, thanks to maskholes!

[bdamomma]

18. maskholes!!!

funny.

you wonder if there will be medication to come out soon.

[SheltieLover]

40. There are already a good variety of psychiatric meds on the market

But covidiots think they're perfect.

I see so many males with their noses hanging out, I'm beginning to wonder if that is not some sort of sick, redneck phallic symbol.

[bdamomma]

45. Sorry

I was referring to some sort of Covid medication.

[SheltieLover]

46. Oh, lol!

I think maskholes would do well to visit psychiatrists for moid stabilizers!

[USALiberal]

8. What???? So you wish you didn't get the vaccine???? Nt

[iemanja]

10. Of course not

Rather, my life may not change as much as I hoped.

[jcgoldie]

13. math is hard

94% efficacy means 6 people in 100 still will get it.

[NoRethugFriends]

19. And the 6 don't have any serious consequences.

what is so hard to understand about that?

[Bleacher Creature]

27. +1000

And those six are close to 100% safe against hospitalization and death.

A highly successful flu vaccine is one with about 60% effectiveness. The fact that the COVID-19 vaccines are more than 90% effective is cause for celebration - not dangerous fear mongering news articles.

[subterranean]

34. That's not exactly what it means...

The 94% figure (or 95% or 91%, or whatever it is) does NOT mean that 6 percent of people vaccinated will still get infected, as many people assume. What it means is that in clinical studies, the vaccine was 94% more effective compared to the placebo group. In other words, if you have two similar populations of equal numbers, one vaccinated and one not, the number of cases in the vaccinated population would be only 6% (or 5%, or whatever) of the number in the unvaccinated population.

I learned that from Al Franken's podcast with Andy Slavitt a couple of weeks ago.
Here's a link for reference (it's explained at 3:55 and again at 15:25):

[BannonsLiver]

15. Meh, I feel great about mine

People are way too knee jerk.

[Happy Hoosier]

17. Nothing is 100% here, but....

Such cases are rare. Take reasonable precautions and you are very, VERY likely to not get the virus, and EXTREMELY unlikely to get very sick.

Relax.

It's like people afraid to fly commercial. You're afraid of the wrong things.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

22. I'm not impressed by the author of that article at all.

Give me sources for those percentages, Mr. Stein.

Here's percentages from Oregon, for example:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/04/11/3-breakthrough-covid-19-coronavirus-deaths-among-700000-fully-vaccinated-in-oregon/?sh=29bf8d07333f
-----
Consider how many people in Oregon have already gotten fully vaccinated: over 700,000. A quick calculation on your abacus will reveal that less than 0.03% of all fully vaccinated people there have had breakthrough Covid-19 coronavirus infections so far. Of the breakthrough infections, less than 2% ended up in death. Oh, and many of these breakthrough infections were actually asymptomatic, meaning that they didn’t result in symptoms.
-----

So that's about a 0.0004% Covid death rate among their vaccinated in Oregon.

Where's Mr. Stein getting his percentages? He doesn't say.

People should still be cautious even after vaccination, of course.

[iemanja]

25. Thanks for that view

and the numbers.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

29. It was probably an honest mistake by him, but...

... the numbers in his article don't comport with any of the various state-conducted follow-ups that I've seen.

Maybe a typo, poor sentence structure, misunderstanding or who-knows-what.

Most of the follow-ups that I've read indicate a far lower positivity rate than would be expected based on the vaccine trials -- i.e., far lower than the anticipated 5% of the state's overall positivity rate -- but that's probably explained by several vaccinated people not even realizing when they're infected because of absent or very minor symptoms.

[Arkansas Granny]

26. It's been a month since my second Moderna and I'm feeling pretty good about things.

We have known since the vaccine came out that it was 94% effective, so I will continue to wear a mask if I am out in public. I will keep hand sanitizer with me at all times. However, I will not be as fearful as I was before I was vaccinated. I don't lie awake at night now wondering how much longer I will stay safe from a deadly disease. As family and friends get their vaccinations, I worry less about them, as well.

[LizBeth]

33. That is one thing covid didn't have was congestion. But, coughing and congestion is what she says

she had. Big whoop. It is like, the name covid and a panic, but really it sounds totally mild. I am good with that. I do not want a 14-20 day illness that takes me down, wondering daily if I need to go to the hospital or die. The vaccination will take care of that. If the vaccine keeps me at a cough and sniffles, I will be thankful.

[Azathoth]

38. Only 396 people were hospitalized out of tens of millions vaccinated

We're talking fractions of fractions of one percent.

Bronchitis and flu put people in the hospital at much higher rates.

[Johnny2X2X]

39. Herd immunity

People don't understand that 94% effective is great unless you're in that 6%, but 94% eradicates the spread when enough people get vaccinated. It's 94% effective even while coming into contact with Covid spreaders. Becomes more effective when you're coming into way less contact with covid positive people obviously.

[Crunchy Frog]

41. This is why vaccine passports make sense, especially

when there is a sizeable percentage of the population who refuse to be vaccinated.

It's why herd immunity matters, because without it you've still got loads of virus floating around the general population, and some people will still be vulnerable in spite of being immunized.

[roamer65]

42. You can bet if u catch it after being fully vaccinated, that it would have been far worse...

if you were u unvaccinated.


FAR WORSE...like dead far worse.

[iemanja]

43. no doubt. nt

[beaglelover]

44. As long as the vaccines will keep me from going to the hospital and dying of COVID

I'm fine if I end up contracting a mild case of COVID after being fully vaccinated. I'm not going to worry about it at all.