LANE COUNTY, Ore. — Four Oregonians contracted Coronavirus after being fully immunized with the COVID-19 vaccine, including two residents in Lane County. Health experts warn that this could be more common in the variants created during the pandemic.
These cases are called “breakthrough cases” and it means that they have contracted the virus at least 14 days after the completion of their vaccination series. Officials said the other two cases were from Yamhill County.
While both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines should be up to 95% effective, there is still that 5% who may not be. That’s why health officials said this is a serious but not surprising development.
“Both COVID-19 vaccines are very effective, but even with the vaccines that are 95% effective, some people will still get sick. This is common with all vaccines,” said Pat Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority.
At a news conference Friday, health officials said these cases were found through testing. The reason for this is that some of them had symptoms and the others were tested for other reasons.
However, health officials said none of them had been hospitalized. Some had no symptoms at all, while others had mild symptoms.
“No vaccine offers 100% protection and clinical trials of both vaccines currently in use, including breakthrough cases. In those cases, although the participants were given COVID, the vaccines reduced the severity of the disease. Based on what we know about vaccines. for other diseases. and early data from clinical trials, experts believe that getting a COVID-19 vaccine can also help prevent you from getting seriously ill, even if you do get sick, “said Dr. Dean Sidelinger.
OHA is working with our local and federal public health partners to investigate and determine the origin of the case. While they didn’t expect these cases to be associated with highly transmissible variants, they said they would like to have that data.
So they said they work with labs that do sequencing and expect the first results next week.
However, health officials said we can expect more breakthrough cases in Oregon.
“To date, more than 160,000 Oregonians have received their second dose and not all are two weeks away from their second dose, so that indicates a large number of people who could potentially develop disease after full vaccination. But again, the data We see and other states shows, we don’t see serious illness or hospitalizations in these people, our vaccination is working, ”Sidelinger said.
In the meantime, they said getting as many Oregonians as possible remains a critical goal in ending the pandemic.
Health officials want to reiterate the importance of getting vaccinated at the first chance.
“The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective. The benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks of getting COVID-19,” said general surgeon Dr. Mary Giswold.
While the OHA was unable to provide details on where these cases came from, their age, or when they got their last vaccine, they said 2 out of 4 cases are related to a single location where there is a cluster.
Health officials said that even if you have been fully vaccinated, it is important that Oregonians continue to take steps to protect themselves and their loved ones.