Skip to main content

New top story from Time: Why ‘Breakthrough’ Infections Even After COVID-19 Vaccinations Shouldn’t Be Surprising

https://ift.tt/2RRPKPo

In a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provide the first wide-scale look at the number of so-called “breakthrough infections”—COVID-19 infections occurring in people who are vaccinated against the disease.

Among more than 101 million people who were fully vaccinated in the U.S. during the study period from Jan. to April 30—meaning they were two weeks out from their last vaccine dose—10,262 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported by state and local health departments to the CDC. That works out to just 0.01% of vaccinated people with a confirmed infection, an “incredibly low rate,” says Dr. Carlos del Rio, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Emory University. “To me, this is just reassuring evidence that vaccines really work.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

No vaccine is 100% effective in protecting people from infection. And indeed, the three vaccines currently authorized in the U.S.—from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson-Janssen—were authorized on the basis of their ability to protect people against symptoms of COVID-19, not infection. But in the months since the vaccines rolled out, scientists have documented that people who are vaccinated have lower rates of infection than those who are unvaccinated. In a previous MMWR, published in March, the CDC reported that in a study of nearly 4,000 health care workers, the two mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, were 90% effective in protecting people from getting infected with SARS-CoV-2.

And that protection is confirmed in a far larger population of people by the current report. About 27% of the breakthrough infections among the 101 million people vaccinated occurred among those who experienced no symptoms of COVID-19, about 10%, or 995 cases, were known to be hospitalized, and 2%, or 160 people, died. And among those who were hospitalized, nearly a third were hospitalized for something other than COVID-19, and among those that died, about a fifth died of something other than COVID-19.

“At the end of the day, I think this is very good news,” says del Rio. “And when breakthrough infections do occur, in general they don’t have serious clinical consequences. So I think in general this is incredibly reassuring.”

Dr. Bonnie Maldonado, professor of pediatrics, epidemiology and population health at Stanford University and a member of the CDC committee that reviews vaccines and comes up with immunization recommendations, agrees. “Frankly I think the numbers are amazing. These are miracle vaccines, with better than 90% efficacy in clinical trials, a 0.01% breakthrough infection rate, and almost no severe illness out of 100 million people tracked. It’s about the best information I could expect,” she says.

The CDC data also explored to a limited extent what role new variants of SARS-CoV-2, which spread more easily among people and can cause more severe illness, played in the breakthrough infections. Researchers genetically sequenced the virus from only about 5% of the breakthrough infection cases, however, so the data aren’t robust. But so far, it shows that slightly more than half of the infections could be traced to the most common variant, B.1.1.7 (the one first identified in the U.K.), with a recently identified variant from California contributing to about a quarter of the infections. But since overall the percentage of breakthrough infections is small, the immunity produced by the vaccines still appears to be sufficient at protecting against infection with these variants, and, if infections do occur, they lead to less severe disease in many cases.

The authors note that the infections reported could be an underestimate of actual breakthrough infections, since the reporting is voluntary, and because many people who are positive may not feel symptoms and therefore would not get tested and diagnosed. Still, based on experience with other vaccines, public health experts expect that the rate will remain low, given how effective the COVID-19 vaccines are in producing antibodies that neutralize the virus as well as longer lasting immune defenses.

As a result of these new data, the CDC has told states and local health departments they no longer need to report all cases of breakthrough infections, and instead to just notify CDC when these cases result in hospitalization, severe disease or death. “These [cases] are the ones we’re most concerned about,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a press briefing addressing the change.

Maldonado says there isn’t much added value in continuing to ask for all breakthrough infections, particularly since so many appear to occur without any symptoms. The breakthrough cases resulting in hospitalization or death will, she says, serve as a canary in the coal mine for when vaccine protection might be waning for whatever reason.

That could, potentially, simply happen as a result of time passing. “By the end of this year, most of the early people will have been vaccinated about a year, and we might have to rethink then what gets reported and what doesn’t get reported,” says Maldonado. “Because then the question is, will we start losing immunity a year out?” She says state and local health departments will continue tracking all new COVID-19 cases—just not reporting the milder ones to the CDC. If cases start going up, then health experts can investigate the data to see if it looks like vaccinated people are starting to get infected more, and if so, whether variants might be responsible.

For now, says Maldonado, the concern should be about people who aren’t vaccinated. That’s where new infections are starting and spreading to cause the breakthrough cases. “The vaccine is 0% effective if you don’t get it,” she says.

 

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bihar: Stages collapse during Congress rallies in Darbhanga, West Champaran https://ift.tt/37QFnks

The stage on which Congress candidate from Jale assembly seat, Mashkoor Ahmad Usman was addressing a rally broke and collapsed in Bihar's Darbhanga on Thursday. In a similar incident, another stage collapsed and took down party leaders Imran Pratapgarhi and Akhilesh Singh along with several party workers who were on the dias, during a Congress rally at Bagahi Deoraj in Champaran.

New Dashboards Give a Window into Muni Service Changes

New Dashboards Give a Window into Muni Service Changes By Kate McCarthy An inspector manages Muni service. New dashboards that help inform changes to Muni service are now live at SFMTA.com/MuniData Many factors inform our decisions about Muni service adjustments. These include making sure changes to service support the SFMTA’s values, which are economic vitality, environmental stewardship, trust and equity. We also evaluate travel patterns. You can now explore these patterns using the new Muni data dashboards  (SFMTA.com/MuniData). When looking at possible Muni service changes, the first thing we do is turn to the Muni Service Equity Strategy for guidance. Using the Muni Service Equity Strategy, we prioritize providing Muni service along routes that more often serve people of color, members of low-income households, and/or those who are dependent upon transit service, including people with disabilities and seniors. We also use ridership data to analyze where riders are boa...

India reports first 6 cases of new coronavirus strain after UK returnees test positive https://ift.tt/3pA0T2j

India on Tuesday reported the first six cases of the new coronavirus strain after six people who had returned from the United Kingdom were tested positive for the new UK variant genome. According to the details, the new coronavirus strain cases were reported from Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore. Samples of 3 UK returnees were tested and found positive for the new UK strain in NIMHANS, Bengaluru. The other two cases were tested at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad; while the last case was tested at the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

FOX NEWS: Ohio amusement park shut down after multiple fights break out Kings Island in Mason, around 20 miles north of Cincinnati, closed down 30 minutes early Saturday night after several fights among teenagers occurred, reports suggest.

Ohio amusement park shut down after multiple fights break out Kings Island in Mason, around 20 miles north of Cincinnati, closed down 30 minutes early Saturday night after several fights among teenagers occurred, reports suggest. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3wsn8uI

PM Modi lauds IFS officers for their work towards serving nation, furthering national interests https://ift.tt/36HoEzw

Greeting Indian Foreign Service officers on IFS day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that their work towards serving the nation and furthering national interests globally are commendable. Their efforts during the Vande Bharat Mission, which was launched to bring Indians home from abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic as international travel came to a halt, and other related help to our citizens and other nations is noteworthy, Modi added.

FOX NEWS: Bride's father asks stepdad to help walk her down the aisle in sweet viral moment A selfless gesture by the father of a bride was shared on social media in a viral moment of him surprising the girl’s stepfather by asking him to help walk her to the altar.

Bride's father asks stepdad to help walk her down the aisle in sweet viral moment A selfless gesture by the father of a bride was shared on social media in a viral moment of him surprising the girl’s stepfather by asking him to help walk her to the altar. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/ZkQ1Rpt

Better Connections from Bayview and Hunters Point to Downtown

Better Connections from Bayview and Hunters Point to Downtown By Enrique Aguilar To better connect southeast San Franciscans with downtown, the SFMTA debuted the 15 Bayview Hunters-Point Express in late January, coinciding with the return of T Third train service. Within weeks, average daily boardings reached 1,000 customers on this new service. The 15 Bayview Hunters Point Express  We added this route based on community feedback from the Southeast Muni Expansion Project in 2018, which prioritized a more direct trip to downtown from the Bayview. With the sudden rise of the COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate impacts on communities in the Bayview and Hunters Point, fast-tracking the project became critical to our transit planning. Adding service capacity and a direct connection between these neighborhoods and downtown is a crucial step in supporting the City’s economic recovery and increasing job access for essential workers using transit. Using data from the SFMTA Equ...

Plan Your Next Golden Gate Park Trip with Muni

Plan Your Next Golden Gate Park Trip with Muni By Eillie Anzilotti   A map of San Francisco showing Muni lines that offer direct service to Golden Gate Park, including: The 18 46th Avenue, the 29 Sunset, the 5 Fulton and 5R Fulton Rapid, the N Judah, the 44 O’Shaughnessy, the 33 Ashbury/18th Street, the 7 Haight/Noriega, the 43 Masonic and the 28 19th Avenue. Around each bus route shown on the map, a red zone shows the range within 1,000 feet of a stop, orange shows within 2,000 feet of a stop, and yellow shows within 3,000 feet. Here’s a fun fact: 70% of San Franciscans are within a 15-minute walk of a transfer-free Muni ride to the largest public space in our city: Golden Gate Park.   Especially as COVID-19 has heightened the importance of outdoor recreation and park access, SFMTA has made efforts to update Muni service to get people to Golden Gate Park. As of now, ...

New top story from Time: ‘I Should Be Presumed Innocent.’ Hong Kong Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai Criticizes His Arrest

https://ift.tt/342b8VJ Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai said he was arrested on “trumped up” charges, pushing back against landmark national security legislation that has raised questions about press freedoms and the future of the democracy movement. “They’re trumped up. I can’t go further on the details,” Lai said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday morning. “Before any evidence, they just claimed and presumed that I’m guilty. This isn’t the way the law is. I should be presumed innocent. We have never supported the independence of Hong Kong.” He said Hong Kong’s future as Asia’s main financial hub was uncertain if there was no respect for the rule of law under the new security measures. “The future of Hong Kong is the future of any other Chinese city,” he added. “Without the rule of law, the international financial center will be finished.” He added that the law sent a “very negative” message to the business community in Hong Kong and overseas. Lai has ...

अगर मैंने आत्महत्या की तो लोगों को पता होना चाहिए किसकी वजह से की - फूटकर रोते दिखे विकास गुप्ता

सुशांत सिंह राजपूत की आत्महत्या हर किसी को एक गहरा सदमा दे गई है और अब सुशांत के करीबी दोस्त विकास गुप्ता ने एक वीडियो में अपनी आपबीती सुनाई है। विकास इस वीडियो में बेहद टूटे हुए नज़र आ रहे हैं from टेलीविजन की खबरें | Television News in Hindi | TV Serials Update in Hindi – FilmiBeat Hindi http:/hindi.filmibeat.com/television/vikas-gupta-reveals-people-want-him-to-commit-suicide-cries-his-heart-out-for-sushant-singh-rajput-090284.html?utm_source=/rss/filmibeat-hindi-television-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.213.205.12&utm_campaign=client-rss