Reports of coronavirus ‘breakthrough’ infections, occuring when fully vaccinated individuals get the illness, suggest that the vaccines still offer strong protection against severe disease even in the face of variants.
Two cases in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday show just two women out of more than 400 fully vaccinated study participants, who were tested for Covid-19 weekly, developed mild cases of the disease and recovered quickly. Last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had received reports of around 5,800 breakthrough infections out of more that 77 million fully vaccinated people.
CDC officials are gathering more data on breakthrough cases to determine if any patterns exist among patients. Among the questions the agency is asking is whether certain variants are more likely to play a role in breakthrough cases. Because the report included just two cases, it’s too early to draw any conclusions about which variants are most likely to lead to breakthrough infections.ed and one individual died.
