My mil called today, she had breakthrough Covid. She was vaccinated in January. She felt really sick for a day and like she had a bad cold the rest of the time. She got sick 14 days ago, did not have a booster. My fil did not get sick at all.
My husband’s brother also had breakthrough Covid but did not infect my mil. My mil thinks she might have been exposed at an estate sale she was helping with. My bil was the first person I knew who was vaccinated in December. He’s medical personnel so idk how he got it, it could have been anywhere but maybe at work. From my mil, he had not received his booster either. And felt sicker than mil but symptoms were mild.
My husband had his booster yesterday as he’s immunocompromised. I’m glad he got his. I’m not eligible yet and we got our vaccines in March so I think that our immunity probably hasn’t dropped yet like my mil and bil. At least that’s my hope.
My BIL’s family had an engagement party/dinner for one of his nephews. He wasn’t able to attend. There were about 30-35 people, all vaxxed, and a few days later 7 of them have a breakthrough Covid case. Symptoms range from very sick to asymptomatic and ages are mid twenties through 60+. None had gotten boosters yet as far as my BIL knew.
Apparently, getting vaccinated for COVID-19 is correlated to other personal characteristics or behaviors that help one’s health and safety. Study here finds that those who got vaccinated for COVID-19 have lower mortality from non-COVID-19 causes (grouped within age brackets, gender, and race/ethnicity).
Paul Offit has said that using the term “break through” is one of the biggest mistakes we’ve made. It makes people think that the purpose of this vaccine has been to prevent disease and that it is failing. In reality goal has always been to reduce disease severity, which it still does very well, even without a third dose for most populations. That’s clearly evidenced by hospitalization and mortality statistics, but that is unfortunately getting lost in the messaging.
My mil was very upbeat about getting Covid actually. She was thrilled that the vaccine worked like it said it would. She wasn’t very sick. Her son got it also and although he felt more ill, his symptoms were mild and again the vaccine worked.
My husband and I are not feeling too worried about Covid these days. We aren’t being reckless but are going places and feeling like the vaccine will do its job. That we may get Covid but we trust the vaccine to work for us.
Because that’s how it was marketed /messaged. With a 94+% efficacy everyone (read the CDC, media, public health officials and the public etc…) treated breakthroughs like a rarity. The reality is very different.
It’s been a very slow turn (that’s still happening) from the vaccine prevents infection/disrupts transmission to it protects you from severe illness.
Also, if your immune response under the circumstances was weak enough to get a breakthrough case (i.e. you were in the 10-40% weakest immune responses, since the other 60-90% were prevented from sickness by vaccination), then getting the same infection without vaccination would likely have resulted in a very bad case.
All I’m reporting is that 7 people (out of a group of approx 30-35 people) ranging in age from 24-68 all had breakthrough infections after attending an indoor event.
I’m questioning what constitutes “rare”. I’m reporting an event I’m aware of where breakthrough infections occurred at what seems to me a fairly high rate. The good news: no one was hospitalized. I’m also not saying vaccines aren’t protective.
I’m also skeptical that the actual number of breakthrough cases is accurate. Just as I think the actual number of non-breakthrough Covid cases aren’t accurate. Testing and collection of results hasn’t been a strong suit of the country since the beginning.
You seem intent on denying the science in favor or your anecdote. If actually understanding the issue is your goal, I don’t think that’s the best approach.
I’m not denying “the science” whatever that means. What I’m saying is that the science isn’t taking all the cases into account, as far as non-breakthrough and breakthrough cases mostly because testing has never been done well in this country and that’s been an issue since the start of the pandemic. I’m not saying don’t get vaccinated. I’m saying that breakthroughs are happening in larger numbers than the “official tally” because not everyone with a breakthrough is tested.
I gave one example with factual information. 7 out of 30 seems high to me. Maybe that still qualifies as “rare”? There’s another post on a travel thread where a family went to a broadway show masked and vaxxed and all now have COVID. I know dozens of people who have had breakthrough cases, some mild, some not so mild. Some took at home tests, some went to a testing site. There’s no uniformity as far as how the data is collected.
Overall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that less than 25 percent of infections are confirmed through testing. This underreporting problem is likely worse for people who are vaccinated—their symptoms tend to be milder and they are less likely to be tested in a health care setting. Another problem is that health departments struggle to confirm whether an infected person has in fact been vaccinated.
And those estimates haven’t been updated since May 2021…why not?
The latest Department of Health data on so-called "breakthrough” infections shows that between Sept. 5 and Oct. 4, vaccinated people represented just over a quarter - 26% - of more than 135,000 new infections and nearly 5,000 hospital admissions across the state.
You have to remember to take into account the number of vaccinated vs unvaccinated people when you look at statistics. If 25% of hospitalized people are vaccinated but 75% of the population is vaccinated, that means the vast majority of infections are occurring in a small pool of people.
You also need to look at statistics county by county. In Maine, counties with the lowest vaccination rates have the highest rates of infection.
Exactly. People aren’t testing and are thinking they have slight colds/allergies. There is a huge benefit to NOT testing and therefore NOT knowing, which is being able to avoid quarantining.
I agree with vpa2019 - the breakthrough cases are not being tracked, and there are likely many more than reported. This also is another instance of my frustration over the decades with our medical experts, who do not do a good job of gathering and analyzing data to benefit public health.
There is some data available, such as through the MLB. They have regular testing and there have been instances where there have been a number of breakthrough cases on one team. The Yankees, Nationals and Brewers have all had outbreaks, where most or all cases were in the vaccinated. Those cases were either asymptomatic or very mild, which means that vaccines are working. However, no medical experts seem interested in evaluating the data.
I am concerned that by ignoring the breakthrough cases, or by responding to those who ask questions about these cases with “follow the science” without answering questions, it only adds to vaccine reluctance.
I have been labeled “anti-vax” in the past, and my whole family has had all their vaccinations, the typical ones and the Covid vax. A number of years ago I took two of my kids to an urgent care to get a sports physical and a school physical. The doctor there called me anti-vax because I brought them to urgent care for a physical rather than a family doctor. I keep good records of my children’s vaccinations, and brought them to the urgent care. After his anti-vax comment, I asked if my kids were up to date on vaccinations - he said yes. As much as he may have thought his comment was helping in some way, comments like this only add to reluctance.
I have heard plenty of comments like this surrounding Covid, and because of my frustrations with medical professionals (which I express), I have been repeatedly asked by certain folks if I am vaccinated against Covid. Yes, I am, and so are my kids and husband. However, getting grilled (and not receiving answers) when I ask reasonable questions about how medical experts have handled the pandemic - not helpful and can add to reluctance.
We also have a number of vaccinated friends who had “breakthrough” covid after being fully vaccinated. Not one had any symptoms more than that of a minor cold. The only reason they know they had covid was because they tested out of an abundance of caution because of high risk people in their circle. (And no one spread it to anyone else).
If the vaccine turns a potentially deadly virus into basically the “common cold,” then the vaccines are absolutely doing their job.
We know a number of people who landed in the hospital with Covid, including some fatalities. None of those people were vaccinated.
While I’m sure this is true, there are also some who get tested and find out it IS just a cold, sinus infection, or allergy - like my aunt. Her workplace saw her symptoms and required testing even though she was vaccinated and didn’t think she had Covid. She didn’t.
The NYT says 60% of the population is vaccinated in PA. I presume this is counting kids since the news says 71% of adults, but I’ll use the population since the number of kids getting hospitalized has been rising too.
So, for 5000 hospitalizations, 1300 come from 60% of the population and 3700 come from 40%. If we use the 71% then it’s 1300 coming from 71% of the population and 3700 coming from 29%. This could easily be more accurate because H and I were vaccinated at CVS back in March/April, but I had to add myself to the state database the other day when trying to make a medical appointment. He still hasn’t added himself and we didn’t get our vaxxes on the same days. I’m thinking this CVS’s data from that time period never got added. How many others didn’t?
Regardless, both definitely show which group I prefer to take my odds with.
Plus, an anecdote, but one I’ve heard over and over elsewhere too, medical lad says where he is all of the breakthrough cases he’s seen in the hospital are among those for whom the booster is recommended (age, immunocompromised, or other co-morbidities). It’s a wider group with the unvaxxed, and the vast majority of deaths are with the unvaxxed. He tells us they shake their heads now when they get cases in and find out they’re unvaxxed, usually muttering to themselves, “why???”
Why indeed. Most of us shy away from death or severe issue lotteries rather than saying, “bring it on,” but I guess those unvaxxed, esp without prior Covid, have picked their issue they’re willing to die for.
