The vaccines are very, very effective, but they are not perfectly effective. SARS-CoV-2 infections are expected. A minority of breakthrough infections will be symptomatic COVID-19. A smaller minority of those will be severe. And an even smaller minority of those will be fatal.
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However, all the data so far suggests that symptomatic breakthrough is very rare. Severe breakthrough resulting in hospitalization or death rarer still. The vast majority of COVID-19 deaths in nations with ample vaccine supply are in unvaccinated people:https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/covid-vaccines-nearly-all-deaths-hospitalizations-among-unvaccinated.html …
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People are understandably worried about long COVID resulting from asymptomatic breakthrough, and while we still don't know much about this, I haven't seen any data suggesting that occurs. I'd be surprised if it was common.
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As described in
@TheAtlantic piece by Dr.@Ryan_Mac_Phd, vaccines are not a magical shield that always prevents a viral infection. They are, however, very effective at rapidly clearing infections before they can take hold. Most breakthrough infections are likely abortive.pic.twitter.com/GLiY0RayYr
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If a vaccinated person is exposed & infected, the rapid immune response will prevent virus replication from taking off and spreading to neighboring cells. That means no productive infection, no shedding & spreading, no aberrant host response to infection, & likely no long COVID.
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So the moral of the story is get vaccinated. If you are really worried about breakthrough & want to be extra cautious, consider adding other interventions (masks, distancing, ventilation, etc). I am continuing to wear masks in indoor public spaces, although
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I am continuing to mask out of caution and concern for my community, not because I am worried about breakthrough infection. Though I don't enjoy wearing a mask, masking comes at a low cost to me & at minimum it's courteous to do while SARS-CoV-2 still circulates in my community.
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But please don't worry excessively about breakthrough infections. The data doesn't suggest that we should. The greatest risk continues to be in unvaccinated people. Please, consider getting vaccinated if you aren't already. They are how we end the pandemic for good.
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Yes you can still get covid if you are vaccinated. Let's acknowledge this and move on. Continuously reporting on breakthrough infections is not helping
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I haven’t seen that—what I’ve seen is lots of anecdotal reports about whole households of vaccinated people getting symptomatic infections. To me, that’s a lot more worrisome, because if it’s so rare why would fully vaccinated households ALL be catching it?
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Science and policy is not based off of anecdotes. Widespread symptomatic, serious infection among the fully vaccinated is still extremely unlikely. Everyone eligible for COVID vaccination should get their shots, it’s the simplest way to end this pandemic.
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