COVID-19 Breakthrough Cases Are Expected to Continue

Some fully vaccinated people have developed COVID-19, called a 'breakthrough infection,' explained Sara Berg, Senior News Writer with the American Medical Association (AMA) News team.

However, with the SARS-CoV-2 betacoronavirus Delta variant spreading rapidly throughout the USA, more COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections are expected.

A breakthrough case is defined as "detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen in respiratory specimens collected from a person 14-days after receiving all recommended doses" said AMA member Devang K. Sanghavi, M.D.

That means two weeks after the second shot of SpikeVax (Moderna) or Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech) mRNA vaccines or two weeks after the one-shot J&J - Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the U.S. CDC report on September 2, 2021, from December 2020, through August 30, 2021, the VAERS reporting system had received 7,218 reports of death (0.0020%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. 

While there is still more that physicians and scientists have to learn about this fast-moving topic, Dr. Sanghavi, an intensivist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, discussed what doctors wish patients knew about COVID-19 breakthrough infections.

The full AMA news article is available at this link.

The AMA has developed related FAQs on COVID-19 vaccination covering safety, allocation and distribution, administration, and more; one designed to answer patients’ questions, and another to address physician COVID-19 vaccine questions.

Notes: As of May 1, 2021, CDC transitioned from reporting the passive surveillance of all COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases to focus on hospitalized or confirmed fatal vaccine breakthrough cases due to any cause. And Israel's COVID-19 data dashboard confirms breakthrough cases and fatalities following second and third mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations.