WEBVTT - CDC Is Studying Cases of COVID "Vaccine Breakthrough"

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, April. I'm Oscar Emeras from the Daily Dive

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<v Speaker 1>podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America to

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<v Speaker 1>CDC is studying cases of COVID vaccine breakthrough. There have

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<v Speaker 1>been hundreds of cases reported in Florida, Michigan, and Washington

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<v Speaker 1>about people getting infected with coronavirus after being fully vaccinated.

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<v Speaker 1>Experts say that this is expected as no vaccine provides coverage,

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<v Speaker 1>but are also looking into whether these are cases of

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<v Speaker 1>being exposed to high levels of the virus or variants.

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<v Speaker 1>Rob Stein, health correspondent at NPR, joins us for more.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us, Rob pleasure. You know now is

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<v Speaker 1>more and more people are getting vaccinated. You know, the

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<v Speaker 1>numbers are in the millions. Now, we are starting to

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<v Speaker 1>see a lot of these more you know, rarer occurrences. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>we've been hearing about things with Johnson and Johnson and

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<v Speaker 1>their vaccine and these very rare instances of blood clots.

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<v Speaker 1>Will see all that figured out. But we're also starting

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<v Speaker 1>to see some breakthrough cases of COVID people who have

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<v Speaker 1>gotten vaccinated and still get COVID nineteen. Still the numbers

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<v Speaker 1>are pretty low, but we're seeing states like Michigan, Florida,

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<v Speaker 1>I think, and Washington report a few hundred cases of this,

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<v Speaker 1>and the CDC is looking into it to see why

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<v Speaker 1>this might be happening. So Rob, tell us a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit about what we're learning. That's right, as you said,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the faction has been administered to something more

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<v Speaker 1>than seventy five million people have now been fully vaccinated

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States, and it's unclear how often this

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<v Speaker 1>phenomenon occurs, the vaccine breakthrough, but there have been hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>of cases reported around the country, as you mentioned, and

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<v Speaker 1>so you know, so far most of the cases seem

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<v Speaker 1>like they're pretty mild, but in some cases people do

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<v Speaker 1>get pretty sick, and there have even been some test reported.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's something that's not unexpected, but it's something that

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<v Speaker 1>scientists would like to know more about to figure out

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<v Speaker 1>this way to prevent them happening. In these deaths, as

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<v Speaker 1>you noted in the article, they have been in older

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<v Speaker 1>Americans that you know, we know the virus attacks them

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<v Speaker 1>in a different way. So some of those instances of

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<v Speaker 1>death have been in elderly people. And you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>reason why we talk about these things is you see

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of headlines. They can be misleading sometimes and

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<v Speaker 1>you have to kind of dig into it to see

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<v Speaker 1>how rare it is and how expected it is. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>when we talk about the efficacy of vaccines, especially with

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<v Speaker 1>fiser and maderna, they were up in the high nineties

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<v Speaker 1>the mid nineties, a real world test they said, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>right about but that's not a hundred percent. So these reinfections,

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<v Speaker 1>these breakthroughs are expected. No vaccine is perfect. Every vaccine

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<v Speaker 1>fails in some cases. So nobody was expecting this vaccine

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<v Speaker 1>to be a d percent protective. Are there? In fact?

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<v Speaker 1>You know, the study show that they work really well.

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<v Speaker 1>They seem to protect people against infection about eight percent

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<v Speaker 1>another time, they protect people against getting really sick or

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<v Speaker 1>even dying in excess of percent at a time, but

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<v Speaker 1>that's not a hundred percent of the time, so you know,

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<v Speaker 1>it doesn't work in every single case. And so what's

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<v Speaker 1>reassuring is that even when people do seem to get

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<v Speaker 1>infected when they've been vaccinated, it does seem like their

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<v Speaker 1>infections tend to be more mile for the most parts,

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<v Speaker 1>so it does perhaps offer them some protection. But as

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<v Speaker 1>you said, you know, it doesn't always work, and so

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<v Speaker 1>it's not just trying to figure out, you know, if

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<v Speaker 1>there is anything that we've done to boost the effectiveness

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<v Speaker 1>even higher. And so there's a variety of possibilities. One

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<v Speaker 1>possibility is maybe some people just don't mount as robust

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<v Speaker 1>immune responses other people. That could be especially to an

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<v Speaker 1>older people who we know don't tend to respond to

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<v Speaker 1>strongly to vaccinations, So it could be why we're seeing

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<v Speaker 1>that happen more in that population. It could be that

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<v Speaker 1>maybe it's the amount of virus that people are exposed

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<v Speaker 1>to initially, If they're exposed to a high amount of virus,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe it's so much that overcomes the protection that the

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine provides. And the third possibility are you know, the variants,

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<v Speaker 1>which we know are for sure working changes, and there's

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<v Speaker 1>some evidence that they may be able to evade the

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<v Speaker 1>vaccines more easily. It's unclear how often that happens, but

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<v Speaker 1>it could be a possibility that that's what's going on

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<v Speaker 1>in some cases where it could be a combination of

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<v Speaker 1>all those factors. Right, Viral load versus variants seems to

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<v Speaker 1>be where you know, a lot of the focus will

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<v Speaker 1>probably be because as people get vaccinated, they feel a

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<v Speaker 1>little more comfortable, maybe not wearing the mask, letting their

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<v Speaker 1>guard down a little bit. But you could be in

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<v Speaker 1>a situation where the viral load is especially high in

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<v Speaker 1>your surroundings, or as you mentioned, the variants constantly changing

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<v Speaker 1>and could be evading some of the vaccines. But you know,

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<v Speaker 1>just to kind of prove the point of some of

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<v Speaker 1>these real world studies that have been done so far,

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<v Speaker 1>there was a study done and you see San Diego

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<v Speaker 1>where they looked at healthcare workers who were fully vaccinated

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<v Speaker 1>and between December February there was thirty six thousand healthcare

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<v Speaker 1>workers they looked at. Less than one percent got reinfected,

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<v Speaker 1>and as you mentioned earlier, the cases were more mild

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<v Speaker 1>than you know if they had not been vaccinated. In

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<v Speaker 1>your story, you did talk about an elderly woman who

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<v Speaker 1>who got reinfected. Tell me a little bit about her story. Yes, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>as I said, it's important for it to make that

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<v Speaker 1>if the if these break to infecting, the current the

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<v Speaker 1>stinking right now is they are very very very rare

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<v Speaker 1>and then for most people there is some protection. But yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I did speak to a woman, her name is ginger

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<v Speaker 1>Eat when she's seventy three. She lives in Dallas, Georgia,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, she got two shots of the fires the vaccine,

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<v Speaker 1>and she thought she was protected and never anything to

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<v Speaker 1>worry about. But she continued to be careful, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>she kept wearing her mask, she kept using hand sanitizer,

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<v Speaker 1>she kept wiping down the grocery carts with wipes. But

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<v Speaker 1>a few weeks after her second though, she started to

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<v Speaker 1>feel a scratchy throat and then she got congested, and

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<v Speaker 1>then she started coughing, and she ended up getting a

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<v Speaker 1>test after she lost her sense of smell, and it

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<v Speaker 1>turned out it came back positive, you know, and she

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<v Speaker 1>was really surprised, and she thought she was good to go.

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<v Speaker 1>But you know, lucky for her, she didn't get that sick.

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<v Speaker 1>She was already sick for about ten days and then

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<v Speaker 1>she recovered. And she's still very grateful that she got

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<v Speaker 1>vaccinated because she had some friends in her church who

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<v Speaker 1>did not and weren't so lucky. They got infected and

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<v Speaker 1>they ended up but dying from COVID. So, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>she's trying to get the message out that these vaccines

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<v Speaker 1>aren't perfect, but it's better to get vaccine event than not.

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<v Speaker 1>But you have to still be careful even if you

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<v Speaker 1>are vaccine definitely, so you know the CDC and you

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<v Speaker 1>know other you know places around the country. I'm assuming

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<v Speaker 1>we're all looking into vaccine breakthrough seeing what's happening, but

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<v Speaker 1>as we mentioned, it's expected you should still get out

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<v Speaker 1>there and go get those vaccines. Yeah. No, absolutely, and

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's important also to make distinct machine getting

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<v Speaker 1>infected in reinfectioned. Is no evidence of people who have

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<v Speaker 1>been vaccinally can get infected twice. There's some evidence that

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<v Speaker 1>they could get infected for the first time because the

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<v Speaker 1>vaccines it didn't work in their case, but it is

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the message is consistent that people should even

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<v Speaker 1>if they've been in activated, they shouldn't let the other

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<v Speaker 1>guards that you keep wearing, those masks that you keep

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<v Speaker 1>socially distancing, you know, they have some protection, but they're

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<v Speaker 1>not completely protected. Rob Stein, Health correspondent at NPR. Thank

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<v Speaker 1>you very much for joining us, Thanks for having me.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't

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<v Speaker 1>forget effort today's big news stories. You can check me

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<v Speaker 1>out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday,

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<v Speaker 1>So follow us on iHeart Radio or wherever you get

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