What is post-vaccination COVID-19 infection? It is when a fully vaccinated person becomes infected with coronavirus. There are expected to be a small number of cases and health authorities say they are not a cause for alarm.
COVID-19 vaccines work by teaching the body to recognize the virus, so if exposed to it after vaccination, the immune system should be ready to fight it.
In the studies, the two-dose vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were around 95% effective in preventing disease, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is one-dose , was 72%, although direct comparisons are difficult.
So although vaccines are very good at protecting us against the virus, it is still possible to get infected and have mild symptoms, or even none.
If you get sick despite being vaccinated, experts say the injections will help reduce the severity of the disease, the main reason for doing so.
Most vaccinated people who become ill with COVID-19 have only mild symptoms, said Dr. William Moss, a vaccine expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
In the United States, almost all hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus are of unvaccinated people.
It is difficult to determine why people already vaccinated get sick. The viral load you are exposed to may be a factor, Moss said.
Each person’s immune system will also affect the response to vaccines. Some, for example, have health problems or take medicine that could make their immune system less responsive to the drug.
Those affected may have been exposed to the virus before the injections took effect. And, while this is less likely, they may also have received a dose that was poorly stored or administered, Moss said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States indicate that the variants of the virus could have something to do in some cases, although the existing evidence to date indicates that the vaccines administered in the United States are effective against all of them.
Health authorities are watching for a possible spike in these infections, which could be an indication that the protection offered by vaccines is disappearing and that a booster is needed.
–
