Leroy N. Soetoro
2021-08-12 20:44:35 UTC
LONDON People who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are highly
protected against severe infection, hospitalization and death caused by
the virus. But coronavirus cases among the fully vaccinated so-called
breakthrough Covid cases are still being seen among those who have had
two doses.
While its rare for vaccinated people in the U.S. or Europe to get sick
from Covid, breakthrough cases are happening for a number of reasons,
experts note.
For a start, none of the vaccines being deployed in the U.S. or Europe are
100% effective at preventing infection.
In addition, new Covid strains such as the highly infectious delta variant
which is now prevalent around the world have complicated the efficacy
picture. There is also incomplete data into how long immunity from Covid
lasts following vaccination.
The alarm was raised over breakthrough Covid cases when preliminary data
in Israel which had one of the fastest vaccination programs in the world
published in late July found that the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine
was just 40.5% effective at preventing symptomatic disease.
The analysis, which was carried out as the delta variant became the
countrys dominant strain, still found that having two doses of the shot
provided strong protection against severe illness and hospitalization,
however, the countrys Health Ministry reported.
The data also appeared to show a waning effectiveness of the Pfizer-
BioNTech shot too, with the vaccine only 16% effective against symptomatic
infection for those individuals who had two doses of the shot back in
January. For people that had received two doses by April, the efficacy
rate (against symptomatic infection) stood at 79%, however.
But a study in England carried out from April to May found that, after two
doses, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic
disease caused by the delta variant.
Comparing the results is tricky, however, given differences in the nature
of the vaccination programs in both countries (Israel gave all its adult
population the Pfizer vaccine, for example, while in the U.K. there are
several vaccines in use, with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot predominantly given
to younger people) as well as differences in the study dates, Covid
testing regimes and age groups.
Like the Israeli data, the English data also concluded that after two
doses the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine is 96% effective against
hospitalization from the delta variant. Similarly, it found that the
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was 92% effective in preventing hospitalization
after two doses.
Initial vaccine efficacy data following clinical trials, released by
Pfizer and BioNTech last year, showed that the vaccine was 95% effective
against infection from strains of the virus that were circulating at the
time.
Read more: Moderna may be superior to Pfizer against delta variant
breakthrough odds rise with time
Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwicks
Medical School in the U.K., told CNBC that cases of Covid in fully
vaccinated people are a reminder that no vaccine is 100% effective.
There will always be a proportion of individuals who will still remain
susceptible to infection and illness, he said Monday.
There are also two other factors that impact vaccine effectiveness: (1)
waning immunity we still dont know how long vaccine-induced protective
immunity lasts. This is very likely to be a factor in those elderly and
more vulnerable individuals who were vaccinated early in the vaccine
rollout program, he noted.
The second factor, he added, related to breakthrough infections in
vaccinated individuals due to the more infectious delta variant which
added weight to the case for booster vaccination programs, he said. As
yet, the jury is still out on booster programs with a decision yet to be
made in the U.S. and U.K.
Breakthrough cases by number
Its difficult to know the full extent of breakthrough Covid cases
because cases in vaccinated people tend to be mild or asymptomatic and
could go easily go unnoticed, but figures collected by NBC News has found
that at least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive for
Covid and 1,400 of those have died. Still, the 125,682 breakthrough
cases in 38 states found by NBC News represented less than 0.08% of the
164.2 million-plus people (and counting) who have been fully vaccinated
since the start of the year, or about one in every 1,300.
That is, the number of cases and deaths among the vaccinated is very small
compared to the number among the unvaccinated. Health officials,
particularly in the States, are urging unvaccinated people to come forward
for Covid immunization.
For its part, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says
that breakthrough cases are expected and that there will be a small
percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are
hospitalized, or die from Covid-19.
As of May 1, the CDC said it had transitioned from monitoring all
reported vaccine breakthrough cases to focus on identifying and
investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases. It said the shift would
help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest
clinical and public health importance.
Andrew Freedman, a reader in infectious diseases at the U.K.s Cardiff
Medical School, told CNBC that breakthrough cases were to be expected.
The vaccines are very good at protecting against severe infection,
hospitalization and death but theyre les effective at protecting
completely against infection and we know that many people who have been
fully vaccinated are still getting delta infections with, in most cases,
mild symptoms, he told CNBCs Squawk Box Europe on Monday.
What we dont know is whether giving an additional booster will actually
increase protection and reduce delta variant infections, he noted.
It must be emphasized that studies show that fully vaccinated people are
much less likely to suffer from a Covid infection or to contract the
virus in the first place.
New research from the U.K. released last Friday showed that double
vaccinated people were three times less likely than unvaccinated people to
test positive for the coronavirus.
Analyses of PCR test results in the REACT-1 study a major coronavirus
monitoring program in Britain led by Imperial College London also
suggested that fully vaccinated people may also be less likely than
unvaccinated people to pass the virus on to others, due to having a
smaller viral load on average and therefore likely shedding less virus.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT program from Imperials
School of Public Health, said the findings highlighted both the advantages
and limitations of Covid vaccines.
These findings confirm our previous data showing that both doses of a
vaccine offer good protection against getting infected. However we can
also see that there is still a risk of infection, as no vaccine is 100%
effective, and we know that some double vaccinated people can still become
ill from the virus, he said.
Steven Riley, a professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial, said
that so-called breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated people needed
to be studied further, particularly as parts of the world contend with the
spread of the delta variant.
The delta variant is known to be highly infectious, and as a result we
can see from our data and others that breakthrough infections are
happening in fully vaccinated people. We need to better understand how
infectious fully vaccinated people who become infected are, as this will
help to better predict the situation in the coming months, and our
findings are contributing to a more comprehensive picture of this.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/10/breakthrough-covid-cases-why-fully-
vaccinated-people-can-get-covid.html
--
"LOCKDOWN", left-wing COVID fearmongering. 95% of COVID infections
recover with no after effects.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Donald J. Trump, cheated out of a second term by fraudulent "mail-in"
ballots. Report voter fraud: ***@mail.house.gov
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
protected against severe infection, hospitalization and death caused by
the virus. But coronavirus cases among the fully vaccinated so-called
breakthrough Covid cases are still being seen among those who have had
two doses.
While its rare for vaccinated people in the U.S. or Europe to get sick
from Covid, breakthrough cases are happening for a number of reasons,
experts note.
For a start, none of the vaccines being deployed in the U.S. or Europe are
100% effective at preventing infection.
In addition, new Covid strains such as the highly infectious delta variant
which is now prevalent around the world have complicated the efficacy
picture. There is also incomplete data into how long immunity from Covid
lasts following vaccination.
The alarm was raised over breakthrough Covid cases when preliminary data
in Israel which had one of the fastest vaccination programs in the world
published in late July found that the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine
was just 40.5% effective at preventing symptomatic disease.
The analysis, which was carried out as the delta variant became the
countrys dominant strain, still found that having two doses of the shot
provided strong protection against severe illness and hospitalization,
however, the countrys Health Ministry reported.
The data also appeared to show a waning effectiveness of the Pfizer-
BioNTech shot too, with the vaccine only 16% effective against symptomatic
infection for those individuals who had two doses of the shot back in
January. For people that had received two doses by April, the efficacy
rate (against symptomatic infection) stood at 79%, however.
But a study in England carried out from April to May found that, after two
doses, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic
disease caused by the delta variant.
Comparing the results is tricky, however, given differences in the nature
of the vaccination programs in both countries (Israel gave all its adult
population the Pfizer vaccine, for example, while in the U.K. there are
several vaccines in use, with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot predominantly given
to younger people) as well as differences in the study dates, Covid
testing regimes and age groups.
Like the Israeli data, the English data also concluded that after two
doses the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine is 96% effective against
hospitalization from the delta variant. Similarly, it found that the
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was 92% effective in preventing hospitalization
after two doses.
Initial vaccine efficacy data following clinical trials, released by
Pfizer and BioNTech last year, showed that the vaccine was 95% effective
against infection from strains of the virus that were circulating at the
time.
Read more: Moderna may be superior to Pfizer against delta variant
breakthrough odds rise with time
Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwicks
Medical School in the U.K., told CNBC that cases of Covid in fully
vaccinated people are a reminder that no vaccine is 100% effective.
There will always be a proportion of individuals who will still remain
susceptible to infection and illness, he said Monday.
There are also two other factors that impact vaccine effectiveness: (1)
waning immunity we still dont know how long vaccine-induced protective
immunity lasts. This is very likely to be a factor in those elderly and
more vulnerable individuals who were vaccinated early in the vaccine
rollout program, he noted.
The second factor, he added, related to breakthrough infections in
vaccinated individuals due to the more infectious delta variant which
added weight to the case for booster vaccination programs, he said. As
yet, the jury is still out on booster programs with a decision yet to be
made in the U.S. and U.K.
Breakthrough cases by number
Its difficult to know the full extent of breakthrough Covid cases
because cases in vaccinated people tend to be mild or asymptomatic and
could go easily go unnoticed, but figures collected by NBC News has found
that at least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive for
Covid and 1,400 of those have died. Still, the 125,682 breakthrough
cases in 38 states found by NBC News represented less than 0.08% of the
164.2 million-plus people (and counting) who have been fully vaccinated
since the start of the year, or about one in every 1,300.
That is, the number of cases and deaths among the vaccinated is very small
compared to the number among the unvaccinated. Health officials,
particularly in the States, are urging unvaccinated people to come forward
for Covid immunization.
For its part, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says
that breakthrough cases are expected and that there will be a small
percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are
hospitalized, or die from Covid-19.
As of May 1, the CDC said it had transitioned from monitoring all
reported vaccine breakthrough cases to focus on identifying and
investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases. It said the shift would
help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest
clinical and public health importance.
Andrew Freedman, a reader in infectious diseases at the U.K.s Cardiff
Medical School, told CNBC that breakthrough cases were to be expected.
The vaccines are very good at protecting against severe infection,
hospitalization and death but theyre les effective at protecting
completely against infection and we know that many people who have been
fully vaccinated are still getting delta infections with, in most cases,
mild symptoms, he told CNBCs Squawk Box Europe on Monday.
What we dont know is whether giving an additional booster will actually
increase protection and reduce delta variant infections, he noted.
It must be emphasized that studies show that fully vaccinated people are
much less likely to suffer from a Covid infection or to contract the
virus in the first place.
New research from the U.K. released last Friday showed that double
vaccinated people were three times less likely than unvaccinated people to
test positive for the coronavirus.
Analyses of PCR test results in the REACT-1 study a major coronavirus
monitoring program in Britain led by Imperial College London also
suggested that fully vaccinated people may also be less likely than
unvaccinated people to pass the virus on to others, due to having a
smaller viral load on average and therefore likely shedding less virus.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT program from Imperials
School of Public Health, said the findings highlighted both the advantages
and limitations of Covid vaccines.
These findings confirm our previous data showing that both doses of a
vaccine offer good protection against getting infected. However we can
also see that there is still a risk of infection, as no vaccine is 100%
effective, and we know that some double vaccinated people can still become
ill from the virus, he said.
Steven Riley, a professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial, said
that so-called breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated people needed
to be studied further, particularly as parts of the world contend with the
spread of the delta variant.
The delta variant is known to be highly infectious, and as a result we
can see from our data and others that breakthrough infections are
happening in fully vaccinated people. We need to better understand how
infectious fully vaccinated people who become infected are, as this will
help to better predict the situation in the coming months, and our
findings are contributing to a more comprehensive picture of this.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/10/breakthrough-covid-cases-why-fully-
vaccinated-people-can-get-covid.html
--
"LOCKDOWN", left-wing COVID fearmongering. 95% of COVID infections
recover with no after effects.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Donald J. Trump, cheated out of a second term by fraudulent "mail-in"
ballots. Report voter fraud: ***@mail.house.gov
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.