Vaccines are making a difference, but some people still get infected.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported almost 6,000 cases of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 became infected. Is that a big deal? Should you worry?

The Latest Update

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/cdc-breakthrough-cases-explained-173107351.html. Over 65 million* Americans have been vaccinated for coronavirus. Nearly six thousand or almost 0.01% of them became infected. That is an exceptionally small number when the vaccine companies told us that 5% of us would probably get the virus after two doses of their vaccines. Impressive!

Breakthrough Cases

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/fully-vaccinated-but-covid-19-positive-4-notes-on-breakthrough-case-prevalence.html. I do not understand the term, breakthrough, when it comes to defining how many people get infected after being vaccinated, but that is my problem. The industry uses breakthrough cases to differentiate those infected after being vaccinated rather than becoming infected without the vaccine.

Almost 400 people (7%) of the breakthrough cases were hospitalized. Seventy-four of them died. Those numbers are significantly better than the pre-vaccine days. No vaccine is 100% effective.

As expected, a large percentage of the breakthrough cases were older adults – around 40%. Nearly one-third of the infected were asymptomatic. More women than men became infected after two doses of coronavirus vaccine. No data were reported on the breakthrough cases regarding pre-existing conditions or challenging health issues.

Current Trend

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/. A quick look at the macro-statistics for the United States shows that COVID-19 new cases are stable and holding around 65 to 70 thousand new cases daily. The daily deaths are continuing to fall and average around 750/day. The latest reports at the state level show double-digits or less for every state.

Vaccine Tracking

https://github.com/owid/covid-19-data/blob/master/public/data/vaccinations/country_data/United%20States.csv Around 38% or one hundred twenty-five-plus million Americans have had at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine. One out of four of our citizens has received both doses. Add another ten percent to include the people who survived the infection already. We are rapidly approaching the 50% level of protection.

Conclusion

*The latest tally of fully vaccinated is hovering around 77 million as reported since the latest breakthrough case numbers were reported. No change in the number of hospitalizations and deaths.
That aside, a good portion of the infected were asymptomatic. What caused someone without symptoms and fully vaccinated to be tested? Maybe there was a requirement for work or travel?

Regardless, it occurs to me that if one of these asymptomatic people died from the infection without being tested, would the death be blamed on the virus, the vaccine, or some other cause? Just thinking to myself!

I am pleased that many people are continuing to get vaccinated. We drove by a large parking lot of cars this morning at a vaccination tent just south of Houston. Over one million people daily are getting protected.

Live Longer & Enjoy Life! – Red O’Laughlin – RedOLaughlin.com

 

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