Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff. Lauren Vogelbaum here. When the COVID nineteen vaccine
Speaker 1: became available, Perry Knight of Fort Lauderdale, Florida got in
Speaker 1: line as soon as he was eligible. He had already
Speaker 1: done battle with the virus and wasn't interested in going
Speaker 1: there again. Before the article this episode is based on
Speaker 1: how Stuff Works, spoke with him via email. He said,
Speaker 1: I first tested positive in August and spent two nights
Speaker 1: in the hospital because I was having a hell of
Speaker 1: a time just catching my breath. It had to be
Speaker 1: up there as one of the worst experiences of my life.
Speaker 1: It's like being underwater and about to come up for
Speaker 1: fresh air, and halfway through drawing that fresh air, a
Speaker 1: tightness interrupts it. Night got both doses of the Fiser
Speaker 1: vaccine in May, and despite that he wasn't too surprised
Speaker 1: when he tested positive again in July. He said, I
Speaker 1: was more of having a feeling like, Wow, I should
Speaker 1: just play the lottery, because this luck is incredible, if
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I was mentally preparing to
Speaker 1: go back into the hospital for another horrible couple days. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: his second go around with COVID nineteen was nothing like
Speaker 1: the first. His symptoms were mild and short lived, and
Speaker 1: experience that has only strengthened his appreciation for the vaccine.
Speaker 1: Knight said, after seeing firsthand my experience with COVID with
Speaker 1: and without the vaccine, it's given me enough faith in
Speaker 1: the medical system that vaccinations are doing their part to
Speaker 1: protect us. It's not a shield a hundred percent preventing
Speaker 1: the virus from getting to us, but it's a relentless
Speaker 1: warrior who really keeps the worst of it at bay. Still,
Speaker 1: it upsets a lot of people that COVID nineteen is
Speaker 1: possible at all post vaccine. How does that even happen?
Speaker 1: How stuff Works also spoke via email with Free Banerjee,
Speaker 1: a faculty member in Walden University's PhD in Public health program.
Speaker 1: He explained, but when a person gets COVID nineteen even
Speaker 1: after being fully vaccinated, this is known as a breakthrough
Speaker 1: infection since it breaks through the developed immune response. This
Speaker 1: type of COVID breakthrough infection is not unusual. Indeed, it's
Speaker 1: actually to be expected given the viruses recent mutations. Houstaff
Speaker 1: Works also spoke with Dr Erin Glatt, a representative for
Speaker 1: the Infectious Diseases Society of America and Chair of Medicine
Speaker 1: at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, New York. He said,
Speaker 1: with the delta variant, it is certainly more common. These
Speaker 1: variants have higher transmissibility than the earlier strains. They also
Speaker 1: have higher viral loads, so they are more transmissible even
Speaker 1: to people who are vaccinated, so this is a concern
Speaker 1: a breakthrough. Infections in general are nothing new. The medical
Speaker 1: community sees them every single year with influenza. However, many
Speaker 1: people mistakenly believe that vaccines provide complete and total protection.
Speaker 1: But the truth is that, as with flu vaccines, the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen vaccines won't prevent you from being infected. They're
Speaker 1: meant to increase your body's ability to fight the virus Effectively.
Speaker 1: Vaccines don't prevent all infections, they just make them less
Speaker 1: likely and prevent serious complications and death when those infections
Speaker 1: do occur. Pharmaceutical companies, for their part, have been straightforward
Speaker 1: from the get go about vaccine efficacy. Both Viser and
Speaker 1: Maderna reported efficacy rates of for the original strain A
Speaker 1: Visers drops to eight percent when faced with the newer
Speaker 1: more contagious delta mutation and maderna is believed to perform
Speaker 1: about the same, But breakthrough infections of COVID nineteen are
Speaker 1: typically so mild that the Centers for Disease Control and
Speaker 1: Prevention or CDC, stopped tracking them starting on May one,
Speaker 1: unless such cases result in hospitalization or death, So for
Speaker 1: CDC tracking purposes, a mild case of COVID nineteen aftervaccination
Speaker 1: is not currently considered a breakthrough infection banners, she said. Nationally,
Speaker 1: forty six U S States and territories voluntarily reported ten thousand,
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty two breakthrough infections to the CDC
Speaker 1: between January one and April one. By comparison, there were
Speaker 1: eleven point eight million COVID nineteen diagnoses in total during
Speaker 1: the same period. Through July one, there were five thousand,
Speaker 1: nine hundred and fourteen patients with COVID nineteen vaccine breakthrough
Speaker 1: infections who were hospitalized or died in the US, out
Speaker 1: of more than a hundred and fifty nine million people
Speaker 1: fully vaccinated nationwide, and to do the math and put
Speaker 1: it another way, according to this data, fewer than one
Speaker 1: tenth of one percent of the reported cases of COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen from January through April occurred in people who were
Speaker 1: already vaccinated. So let's say you cut a penny into
Speaker 1: ten pieces, and for every hundred cases of COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: you have every dollar's worth. Just one of those livers
Speaker 1: of a penny represents how many vaccinated people got COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: And furthermore, according to this data, through the middle of July,
Speaker 1: fewer than three hundreds of one percent of people who
Speaker 1: are vaccinated wound up either in the hospital or dying
Speaker 1: from a breakthrough case of COVID nineteen. So take one
Speaker 1: of those slivers of a penny and cut it into
Speaker 1: ten even smaller pair fines livers, then count out three
Speaker 1: of those. That's how many vaccinated people got seriously ill.
Speaker 1: And now I keep saying according to this data, and
Speaker 1: that's because the data may not be complete. Bandage continued.
Speaker 1: It's difficult to determine the rarity of breakthrough infections as
Speaker 1: there is not any concrete, consistent data. A certain factors
Speaker 1: complicate how breakthrough infections are counted. The main problem is
Speaker 1: tracking the prevalence, as many do not experience symptoms even
Speaker 1: if they contract a breakthrough infection. Another challenge is to
Speaker 1: determine which individuals with COVID nineteen are in a long
Speaker 1: COVID phase rather than a potential reinfection. While it may
Speaker 1: be difficult to determine just how many people experience any
Speaker 1: type of COVID nineteen related symptoms after vaccination, we can
Speaker 1: see that the numbers of people who get them are small.
Speaker 1: Just as important, if they do get COVID nineteen, the
Speaker 1: symptoms will be much milder than if they had been unvaccinated.
Speaker 1: One study found that fully vaccinated people accounted for only
Speaker 1: one percent of COVID nineteen cases. On August two, one,
Speaker 1: the White House COVID Data Director announced that at least
Speaker 1: seventy of adults in America have gotten at least one
Speaker 1: shot of the vaccine. The two most common vaccinations require
Speaker 1: two jabs weeks apart to achieve full immunity. This was
Speaker 1: good news, as a full vaccination rate of seventy is
Speaker 1: needed for herd immunity. Until that's a achieved breakthrough, infections
Speaker 1: are likely to continue with a vengeance. As of August one,
Speaker 1: only seven percent of eligible people in the United States
Speaker 1: were fully vaccinated, and that number varies widely. By state.
Speaker 1: The CDC had dropped its masking guideline for vaccinated people
Speaker 1: in May, but then in late July it reversed itself
Speaker 1: and said that vaccinated people in areas with quote substantial
Speaker 1: or high transmission should wear masks and doors because new
Speaker 1: data had shown that vaccinated people who had the delta
Speaker 1: variant could transmit the virus as easily as unvaccinated people.
Speaker 1: These kinds of changes in guidelines are a totally normal
Speaker 1: part of the scientific process. We're still learning how this
Speaker 1: pandemic works, and experts are giving us the best advice
Speaker 1: they have every time they learn something new. This isn't
Speaker 1: a flaw in the system, it's a perk. A good
Speaker 1: science can admit when it was incorrect and then a
Speaker 1: just course. This is all science and action, and what
Speaker 1: science is sure of is that more people need to
Speaker 1: get vaccinated to make COVID nineteen less deadly. The Howstuff
Speaker 1: Works team also spoke with epidemiologist Dr Matt Weisenbach with
Speaker 1: Walter's Clue or health. He said, Unfortunately, it's likely that
Speaker 1: the remaining phases of the pandemic will predominantly impact the
Speaker 1: unvaccinated segment of the population. Vaccination remains the single most
Speaker 1: important choice to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your
Speaker 1: community against COVID nineteen. Today's episode is based on the
Speaker 1: article how does COVID nineteen break through in vaccinated people?
Speaker 1: On how staff works dot com written by Leah Hoyt.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership
Speaker 1: with how stuff works dot Com, and it is produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio
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