We know that a lot of people believe that getting vaccinated represents liberation from the pandemic. They believe that once you are vaccinated you can let down your guard. No more masking. Hooray! No more social distancing. Double hooray!! Parties! Shopping! Vacations! We’re home free! After more than a year of isolation, the pandemic is past us. We truly wish that were true. But some vaccinated people catch COVID! What’s going on? There is, as yet, no Delta variant vaccine.
According to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, unvaccinated people accounted for 99 percent of all deaths due to COVID-19 last month. There’s an inverse correlation between vaccination rates and infections in most counties in the country.
Where Do Vaccinated People Catch COVID?
We have been scanning local news reports for cases where vaccinated people catch COVID. Public health authorities don’t seem to know what to make of this. They keep telling us that the vaccines will protect us…but they are not perfect.
Vaccinated People Catch COVID in Massachusetts:
Health officials have been noting increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections even among vaccinated individuals. Provincetown on Cape Cod has experienced a number of positive tests following the Independence Day holiday. Some of these are among vaccinated people.
On July 15, 2021, NBC affiliate in Boston reports that:
“Public health officials have tracked 4,450 ‘breakthrough’ cases of COVID-19 among Massachusetts residents fully vaccinated against the disease, representing about one-tenth of 1% of the roughly 4.2 million people immunized.
“About 92% of the infections in vaccinated residents did not require hospitalizations, while 303 people, or 6.8%, were hospitalized, according to state Department of Public Health data through July 10.”
Vaccinated People Catch COVID in Texas:
Austin, Texas, is reporting a similar phenomenon. Vaccinated people represent a tiny proportion of those infected during 2021, but with infections and hospitalizations on the rise, even vaccinated people catch COVID in Texas.
The NBC affiliate in Austin shares this story (KXAN, July 14, 2021):
“Fully vaccinated with a positive diagnosis of COVID-19: that is the story of 333 people in Travis County since the beginning of the year.
“These are the ‘breakthrough’ cases, but it is just a small fraction of the more than 670,000 people in the county who are fully vaccinated.”
Vaccinated People Catch COVID in Florida:
In Miami-Dade County, Florida, vaccinated people accounted for about 1 percent of all COVID hospitalizations last month, and less than 1 percent of deaths. Experts suspect that the Delta variant is largely to blame.
The ABC affiliate in Tampa adds this (WFTS, July 15, 2021):
“‘It’s more transmissible indoors, it’s more transmissible outdoors, it’s just more transmissible in general,’ said Dr. Michael Teng, Virologist and Associate Professor at The University of South Florida.
“‘Obviously, the vaccines are not 100%. There are some cases of people getting relatively severe infection after getting vaccinated, but this is vanishingly small,’ said Teng.”
Final Words from the CDC on Why Vaccinated People Catch COVID-19:
Here is the official word from the CDC. It makes sense to us. The vaccines are working surprisingly well, but they are not 100% effective. That means that some vaccinated people will catch the delta variant of COVID-19. We hope you will continue to use good common sense and avoid catching the coronavirus even if you have been vaccinated!
“COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases.
• Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19.
• More than 157 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated as of July 6, 2021. Like with other vaccines, vaccine breakthrough cases will occur, even though the vaccines are working as expected. Asymptomatic infections among vaccinated people will also occur.
• There is some evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe for those who are vaccinated and still get sick.
• Current data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States offer protection against most SARS-CoV-2 variants currently circulating in the United States. However, variants will cause some vaccine breakthrough cases.
